The Sombre Snow
by SapphicWish
Summary: Sweet little Glim, a glaceon who survives ordeal after ordeal, while losing so many of his friends in Crio's revolution. Facing a racist republic, a vengeful rebellion and a mysterious crowd of zombie-like pokémon who call themselves 'Martyr'. Perhaps though, Glim's worst enemy is himself, while finding himself, he is already deeply lost in his own tears. Containing yaoi/yuri.
1. Your life, is your life

Chapter 1  
'Your life, is your life'

* * *

Little did he know, that day his life would change forever more. With every drop of blood falling onto the white and cobalt snow, the little eevee would break more and more, like ice in contact with its own salty tears. That day he was keeping with his friends, out of sight, safe from the revolution of Crio. Their intention in the country at war was simply to stay safe, avoid any pokémon loyal to the Republic of Crio or part of the 'Crimson Revolution.' Trusting any pokémon became a danger, making all undecided citizens resort to evacuating or hiding.

Glim, a complicated, quiet eevee was one of many of those unwilling citizens. Having to leave his home in the city of Gerbera felt nothing new to him, he had to run away a lot. With each paw step he made through Scad Forest along with his three rescuers, Glim was finally realising he was free from the home he suffered in, though he was not any warmer roaming in a country at war. Deep down, he did not care, he would not admit that, the eevee just wanted to be safe for one day.

Emerging from the trees, an infernape couple Oswald and Jane stepped out and cautiously surveyed the rocks that leaned on the hill before them. They split further and further to see more of the mountainous plain, looking out for any signs for an ambush or revolutionaries. Oswald became more and more casual as he climbed and had not seen anything other than the vague pokémon tracks leading up the hill. He looked over at his wife Jane, just further up the hill, who indicated seeing nothing also. Oswald then smiled, looking back at the trees.

'Okay, it's empty!' called Oswald. 'You can come out now!'

From the trees, the little eevee timidly peeked out. Immediately afterwards a large garbodor boomed out from the same flock of trees.

'Oz,' shouted Ben. 'We thought a garchomp would burst out and bite your head off! But don't worry we had you covered!'

'My ass you had me covered.' chuckled Oswald, descending down the hill. 'Glim would be the one rushing out to save me, while you would only bloody commentate about the garchomp ripping my head off.'

Ben carried on, climbing the hill while Oswald moved closer to the trees, calling the eevee out. Glim nervously stepped out of the greenery, though the hill before him seemed desolate and empty, he was afraid a garchomp would leap out of the rocks to attack them.

'Come on Glim, it's safe.' said Oswald who approached the quiet little eevee. When the fatherly infernape stood before him, he knelt down, offering his hand. Glim could only give the big ape pokémon his paw, as Oswald gently pulled him out of the green bushes. When Glim left the bush, he felt a little pathetic being so afraid, but looking up at Oswald, who was smiling, Glim knew he was safe and should try to be a little braver. Thankfully his friends understood that Glim was just a kid, or so he thought. 'Don't worry Glim, once we're there, we can hole up until the revolution is over, right?'

'Mh-hm.' mumbled Glim, unsure what to say, while he and Oswald started to climb the hill.

'Oi, will you two hurry up!' called Jane, higher up the hill.

'Be right with you honey.' Oswald replied. 'You're gonna love it there, Glim. Jasmine village is said to be a flower paradise, just passed this mountain. Aren't you excited?'

'I guess.'

'You guess?'

'Well… with all that is going on. I was scared even before all this, and after what happened when you rescued me.'

'That wasn't your fault Glim and the worst of the Crimson Revolution is at Haine. Sure, the revolution is happening all over Crio, but a small village that keeps itself out of city problems, is going to have far less supporters on either side. So why not just find the safest place and camp eh? The world won't end if nobody's fighting. Besides, Jane is in no condition to fight, if she is pregnant.'

Suddenly, the eevee's mind began flashing himself with the traumatic event that was his rescue. His 'room' first collapsing and bursting into flames, followed by him struggling under some debris. A sylveon appeared to yank him out and then slap him furiously with her ribbons. The next jittery image showed Oswald and Jane, bursting into the house, only to take cover.

'You could've got your mother killed!' yelled the voice of a slaking, echoing in Glim's head. 'It's that what you want, you shit!'

The flashback that followed was the one that scarred the little eevee. He was at total mercy to the angry slaking, who had him at a chokehold, both hands tightly squeezing Glim's entire body up to his head. The slaking appeared to still be screaming at him, though the eevee could not remember what he said. Suddenly, Glim found himself on the floor again, but bouncing off it and sliding into the damaged wall.

'What the- stop!' screamed Jane, dive tackling the giant slaking from what Glim could see.

The harrowing flashbacks ended as Glim and Oswald climbed to the level ground that passes around Mount Scad. The path suddenly breaks off the hill and becomes a cliff and right next to the entrance of the cliff. Jane was waiting, while the garbodor was looking down the cliff.

'I heard you talking about the baby.' said Jane, approaching Oswald. 'I'm fine, okay?'

'For now, yeah. We just don't want you to push it, okay babe?'

'Don't push it?' she mocked. 'Easy for you to say.'

'Oh, you know what I'm talking about.'

'Got a name for him, her yet?' asked Ben.

'Already decided!' called out Oswald.

'No!' interrupted Jane, walking down the path around Mount Scad, followed by Oswald, Glim and Ben.

'Oh come on, they'll love it.'

'You're just adding "junior" on the end of our own names, which is going to confuse the hell out of one of us who has the same bloody name! If I'm going to bring a chimchar into the world, I don't want his, her name to be a joke.'

'Then why not Oz or Jenny?' suggested Ben.

'That's better, but still, let me get my chance to think about it.'

'Speaking of choices,' said Oswald. 'Do you know what "eeveelution" you want to evolve into Glim?' the little eevee only stuttered. 'I think you'd make a good espeon.'

'I was thinking vaporeon.' said Ben.

'Or even, if you- if you wanted, a sylveon.'

'Glim's a boy, Oz.' replied Jane, which made Ben and Oswald respond chuckling in shock. 'What?'

'Don't say that to Pink Boy and Blue Girl, they'd tear you apart Jane.' said Oswald.

'I've never heard so much garbage.' chuckled the garbodor, which caused Oswald to burst out laughing. Jane only shook her head resisting to chuckle.

Further down the cliff, Oswald's laughter could be heard echoing as a dark spiky figure approached.

* * *

Passing through Mount Scad, the four friends had reached the other side of the scenic pathway, leading to Jasmine Village. Among the glorious sight, brought by the height they were at, the small village appeared, still a mile or two away. Jasmine was on a hill top, appealing rather colourful, as opposed to the constant grey and teal countryside. The scene became even darker as it suddenly started to rain again. Not surprising when they realised they were higher than the clouds that remained adrift between the mountain and the village ahead of them.

Ben the garbodor called out that he was going to find the path to Jasmine. Meanwhile Jane looked back and saw Oswald tucking Glim in a small opening of a cliff, protecting the little eevee from the rain. The sight made Jane smile, as she also went ahead to find their path to Jasmine within the mist.

Oswald stayed behind with Glim, keeping him warm using his fiery head. Even though it began to rain heavily, the infernape cared for Glim like he was his own. The eevee comfortably bunched himself within the tiny wall indent and seemed to appreciate Oswald's fatherly nature. But then his face turned sad and unsure.

'Oswald. What if I don't know what eeveelution I want to be?'

'Then take your time until you know.' replied the infernape, lightly squeezing Glim's chubby cheeks, which made him giggle. 'Hell, you may not want to evolve at all and stay as a cute little eevee.'

'But what if- what if I want to be something, that no one wants me to be? What if I do want to be a sylveon, even if I'm a boy?'

'Glim, listen to me. Your life, is your life. No one else's. You should never change because someone else says so. Whether or not God gave you a life, he gave you a choice to live it. Don't let others decide of you.'

The infernape stroked the little eevee who looked down in deep thought. The two paused as the rain seemed to be getting heavier. When Glim heard the rain hitting the ground louder, he looked up and in horror noticed a very long tail, stretching well above Oswald and swiftly striking him vertically at his back. He roared up at the sky, before the tail appeared to clamp a pincer around Oswald's hip and lift him into the air.

From the edge, rose a drapion crawling onto the ground near Glim, who was frozen in place. The drapion attempted to slam Oswald head first onto the ground, but as the scorpion pokémon threw him down, he broke his fall by hitting the ground with his fists and immediately blocked the pincers with the same fists. Whilst upside down, Oswald managed to escape the tail, twisting himself out of the pincers that sunk into him and land back on his feet. The drapion tried to grab Oswald again with its enormous tail, who easily rolled over the lunging tail and gave him the opening for a Close Combat to its face. In rapid succession, Oswald managed to punch the drapion's face twice and deliver a dolphin kick, sending the ogre scorpion up and slamming onto its back. The drapion wriggled hideously until it rolled back onto its four legs.

Keeping each other's distance, the drapion started to pace to its right, as though it would try to circle Oswald, who was not going to fall for such tactics. The wounded infernape also began side stepping to his right, but then realised what the drapion was intending. Right behind the massive drapion was the vulnerable little eevee, left in the wall indent, who was suddenly snatched by the drapion's vicious tail and held up in the air. Glim fortunately was not hurt by the pincers, but could not move. At the same time, Oswald reacted as quickly as he could, recklessly bolting toward the drapion, who retaliated, catching his arms in its raised pincers. Oswald was being held back and getting pushed downward from his arms, stopping him from kicking the drapion again. The scorpion pokémon tightened its grip on Oswald's arms, making him growl further. In desperation, the infernape attempted to step closer to the drapion's head, which threatened to bite back. When he got close enough, the flames on his head turned white and blazed massively as he head butted the drapion's face which was his way of using Flare Blitz. The attack echoed all across the route, but the drapion was still standing, even though its eyes simply burned away. The giant scorpion was barely functioning and could only tighten its grip on Oswald and Glim even harder. The normally quiet eevee screamed, both in pain and suffocation.

'Let. Him. Go!' roared Oswald, mercy killing the drapion with another brutal Flare Blitz, completely crushing its skull.

The very dark, poisonous scorpion then dropped onto the floor, releasing its severe grips on the infernape and eevee. As soon as the pincers were released, Glim coughed and leaped back, trying to regain his breath. On the other side, Oswald had also fallen onto the wet floor.

When Glim recovered from the situation, he realised that the drapion was dead and needed to help Oswald, who was struggling to get up. The eevee rushed over to the infernape and could clearly see a large gash on his back, which had already turned a dark red and blue, meaning that Oswald was poisoned. The ape pokémon grunted, trying to push himself off the floor, but was unable to get onto his feet. Glim ran under him to help support his weight, knowing that Oswald was in too much pain and was vulnerable to the poison and rain.

'Jane! Ben! Help!' called Glim, whose feminine voice was masked by the rain, only a little lighter than earlier. With no one in sight, the desperate eevee decided to rush down the hill to find Jane and Ben himself. 'Don't worry Oswald, we'll save you!' said Glim, resisting to panic, dragging the soaked infernape who was panting heavily.

'Glim.' whispered Oswald, panting slower.

'Just stay with me!' cried Glim, resisting to bewail. 'Just stay with me! Jane! Ben!' he continued, frequently glancing left and right, partly blinded by the rain.

'Glim.' whispered Oswald again, shaking his head as Glim continued racing to find the infernape's wife.

'Jane! Ben!' screamed Glim, using all his air.

Finally, Glim stopped in place. He could scream any more or even move, which left the infernape to slide off his back onto the ground next to him. His resistance of tears broke as the eevee sat in place, using what breath he had left to cry.

Glim listened out for his friends who had disappeared into the watery veil. He then noticed that Oswald next to him had stopped breathing so deeply.

'Oswald?'


	2. Fragile little ice

Chapter 2:  
'Fragile little ice'

* * *

A week had passed after what happened to Oswald. A glaceon was sat on his hay bed, with a rather sad expression and facing the window that was getting battered by rain. He looked as though he had woken up from a nightmare, or cried so hard his eyes became sore, or perhaps, he had just evolved. That glaceon was Glim.

Still shaken up by the whole event he was trying to move on from. The very memory of the drapion's tail rising up and stabbing Oswald haunted him. In fact, it would make him cry for he felt so responsible for not trying to warn his friend, followed by the memories of being crushed by the drapion to carrying Oswald's body on top of him. The feelings were unbearable, like being pushed in the throat and stomach, while Glim was powerless to prevent his tears. Even breathing in resembled sobbing. The little glaceon knew he had to be brave, he had become a young adult glaceon, according to other pokémon among the field species.

'Glim? Are you okay?' asked a little turtwig, peeking into the small room.

The glaceon slowly rubbed off his tears and remained looking away.

'I'm fine.' he said, but the turtwig could clearly see that Glim was still distraught.

'Well, um, your friends downstairs want to see you.'

'Okay.' Glim replied, not even looking at the young turtle, who could only walk away worried for him.

Downstairs, Jane was in the living room, scribbling notes on a newspaper, which was one of many in front of her. Ben was opposite her, entertaining three baby refugees, a bonsly, cleffa and a pichu, who were giggling loudly. The infernape nearby took one look at the baby pokémon and looked back to her notes miserably. She was no longer pregnant.

Glim entered the long room, without his friends noticing him. A mother raichu, who was watching over her pichu, was the first to notice Glim in the doorway as she was leaving for the kitchen.

'Morning Glim. I'm just gonna make some tea, if you would like some?'

'Uh- um okay.' replied the glaceon, trying to respond quickly as the raichu passed. Glim then approached the long dinner table to his right, where Jane was deep in thought. He sat on the chair just opposite the infernape, who still did not notice the little glaceon. Glim was a little worried that she might be ignoring him or secretly disliking him. 'Jane? Um.'

'Yes?' she replied, reading a paper in front of her on the table.

'W-what are you doing?' asked Glim, who got no reply for a moment, before Jane put down the paper she had on her hand and held up the paper she was reading.

'That drapion, who killed Oswald. You think it was this one in the paper?' she said, pointing at a story titled 'Five Children Missing Over Scad' which concluded with the theory of being killed by a drapion, nicknamed the 'Killer of Kindness' in the Crimson Revolution. 'He was a member of the fucking Crimson, as I predicted! Now I have lost eight to those assholes!' she shouted, hitting the table.

Jane then suddenly stopped, keeping hold of her fury, realising she has scared the kids on the other side and that the room had gone quiet.

'Jane, you want to take a moment?' asked Ben, who got no reply. Glim meanwhile was also getting nervous, feeling like he caused Jane's anger, but remained silent. 'Could you at least watch your language? We have kids in here.'

'I know, shut up.' replied the infernape.

The mother raichu returned, wheeling in a small trolley with a tea set on it. Pushing it to the centre, she stopped with a little concerned expression.

'Is everything alright? I heard shouting.'

'Oh we're fine, Jane was just telling Glim about where we're going next.' explained Ben, which caused Glim to glance at him, who was not told that at all.

Mentioning that message made Jane rummage through her many papers, while the raichu brought a cup of tea over to Glim, placing it on the table. Ben went back to pretending to be an airbag, letting the three babies roll him like a beach ball, while he pretended to be some grumpy elder.

The glaceon thanked the raichu, who moved back to the trolley, while she chuckled watching the children playing with Ben. Glim blew at his flowery teacup, to cool the tea icy cold, before he took one gulp. Jane just opposite him held up a different journal, one that had a picture of a drapion, a crobat and multiple venipede fleeing a street. The image seemed a little blurred, but the drapion had the most clarity for being the closest to the photographer.

'Is this him?' demanded Jane, holding the picture close to the face of the little glaceon, almost cuddling his teacup.

'Jane, I've only seen a drapion once. But, I don't see anything different about this one, to the one who attacked me and Oswald.'

'This so called "Killer of Kindness" was a common killer in Iris, nearby. So I'm thinking, if this asshole was a high ranked member of the Crimson, their base of operations could be located around there.'

'Wait, wait. Does this mean you're joining the revolution?'

'Glim, we are all in the revolution, whether we pick a side or not. And if it doesn't end any sooner, more people, who or whatever they are, are going to die! It's not just about me avenging Oswald, but to save Crio, to save those who don't deserve to die. Unless you want to keep running, living in fear Glim?'

The little glaceon paused, spacing out and looking down. Jane folded the paper she was just showing and placed it into a backpack for human-like pokémon of her size. Glim knew Jane was right, but what could a helpless glaceon do in a country wide war? In fact, almost nobody knew why the Republic even turned on all dark type pokémon to begin with. The only cause of the Crio revolution was apparently the 'human genocide,' where every visiting human had been reportedly brutally murdered and dark types were blamed for it, without explanation. Glim had nothing to do with the revolution, but for it to end, he too would have to take a stand. Not something he wanted to do right away. Jane meanwhile had put her bag on and was leaving the living room.

'Wait, where're you going?'

'I'm just going back to my room, to get my equipment. Once I'm done, I'm out of here.'

'You mean, you're going to leave us?' asked Glim, while Jane stood in the doorway, who looked back at him, somewhat sad and sorry.

'Glim, Oswald is dead and I have no child to conceive anymore. You think I can ever get over that? If I don't stand up to the revolution, with or out my revenge, Oswald and probably thousands more will die for nothing. I'm sorry Glim, but I love you too, which is why I have to fight.' said Jane and with nothing else to say, she left.

Glim wanted to rush out and tell Jane that he was not a baby and he could fight, but his feelings would immediately shut him down, remembering what happened between him and that drapion. The little glaceon was terrified, even with Oswald's words 'then take your time until you know' echoing in his head. For Glim his time was running out, the revolution almost killed him several times and he was still unprepared to take a stand. He looked over at Ben and wondered what he would think in his situation.

The glaceon quickly drank the rest of his tea, leaving the teacup on its saucer and left his seat, to see Ben spinning in circles, whilst holding the cleffa in the air, pretending that he was an aeroplane. He eventually put down the giggling cleffa, getting a little dizzy. The pichu and bonsly ran up wanting a turn, while the raichu mother picked up the happy cleffa. The garbodor rolled onto his back, pretending to be exhausted, while the pichu and bonsly were still cheering for a turn.

'Ugh, and Trashy Airlines has just been trashed.' said Ben, whose face was met by Glim's, looking over him.

'Hey Ben, Jane's leaving.'

'Really?' he replied, gently rolling into a sit up position.

'She said she'll be getting to her room and then head for Iris.'

'Ah yeah, she wants to find the Crimson leader and end the revolution. Not that I blame her.'

'So she spoke to you?'

'For hours.'

'And you're not going with her?' asked Glim, circling the garbodor to meet his eyes. Ben did seemed concerned, but like the glaceon, he was also unsure.

'I'm still thinking about it.'

'Me too, actually.'

'Jane has lost a lot to the revolution, including her husband. So I understand why she wants to fight, but I'm no fighter Glim. I just care for my friends. Which includes you.' said Ben stroking Glim's freezing cold face with his makeshift hand, perhaps made of soft toys. Though Glim liked Ben's affection for him, he lowered Ben's arm with his paw.

'If the revolution keeps going, eventually we will all die. It has to end, Ben. You wouldn't like to find my body, knowing you could have helped would you? Trust me, I know how that feels.'

Ben paused, staring at the innocent glaceon before him and then looking at the children playing with the raichu. He suddenly felt a fire within his unusual body morphed from rubbish.

'Aren't you going with Jane?'

'Well ye-' stuttered the glaceon, still unsure if he really wanted to go. The garbodor, recognised Glim's hesitation.

'You want to help, don't you? But, your experiences has made you a little nervous.' said Ben, holding Glim by his cheek again, who could not help but nod and shed a tear.

'I just don't want to lose you or Jane. I have no friends, no home.'

'Then let's go find Jane. Together we are family, even if the revolution takes us.' said Ben proudly.

The garbodor stumbled out of the living room, while Glim paused a moment, noticing that the mother raichu wanted his attention. She came up to the little glaceon and hugged him, like she already knew what he was setting out for.

'Glim. Take care of yourself sweetheart, okay?'

Outside the refugee cottage, Jane headed northwest toward to Route 8 that would lead to Iris Town. The flowers were still in bloom, despite the cold weather, which appears to have snowed at some point, judging by the ice on the grass and hedges.

'Jane!' called Ben from the door that Jane had left from.

The infernape stopped, but did not look back, while Glim rushed over to her, with the garbodor slightly behind him, having to close the door first. Jane recognised the sound of four little legs and realised Glim was also joining her, which made confusion take over her expression as she glanced back. The little glaceon stopped when his eyes met hers.

'What're you doing?' she demanded.

'We're- we're coming with you.'

'No Glim! Not you too.' said Jane, while Ben had caught up to them.

'We're coming with you Jane.' argued Ben.

'Not him, he's just a kid!'

'That didn't stop Sejun the Pachirisu and Glim's not a kid anymore, Jane.'

'That's not the point, he can't fight and we can't baby him anymore.'

'Baby him?'

'I'm not a baby!' interrupted Glim. 'You said yourself Jane, we're all in the revolution, whether we pick a side or not! And if I can't fight with you guys now, I will never defend myself.'

'Listen, Glim. Losing Oswald was enough.'

The garbodor interjected, 'You think he doesn't know that? You weren't the one carrying him as he died, do you think that was any easier for Glim?'

The three stood silent for a moment.

'Jane.' spoke Glim, looking down. 'I know you care for me, but we care for you too and if this doesn't end, we will all die eventually. Crio is at no peace and leaving the region isn't possible right now.'

Glim had earned Jane's gaze, who still seemed very angry.

'Fine.' she said, turning and continued for the exit out of Jasmine.

Glim looked up at the garbodor who responded with his casual smile and winked at the glaceon before following the infernape. Before they left, Glim took one look back at the village of Jasmine. It really was a flower paradise as Oswald said. So many white flowers festered around the cottages and the road where they stood in spite of the cold weather. Only miles away was Mount Scad, towering up into the gloomy clouds, as if the mountain was only outside the village.

Had it not been for the drapion killing Oswald, Glim may have made that place his home. Jane and Oswald would still have each other. Ben would of happily volunteered to be a foster father for the village. The glaceon meanwhile, would probably still have had his choice. He may still had been an innocent eevee. But all that was lost now.

* * *

The journey to Iris was best taken through Route 8, one of the smallest routes in Crio, being fifteen miles. If anything, it was just a long downhill stroll to the sea bound town. The route was quiet being so far away from Crio's capital of Haine, where the revolution was at its most violent, however the town Glim was heading to was claimed by the Crimson.

'Speaking of that Jane. If the war is at its worst in Haine, why would the Crimson Revolution leader be all the way out here?' asked Ben.

'Why do you think? Fights start in a city, but when it's a full on war, it always comes from outside the battlefield.'

'I heard the Crimson are actually retaliating for being blamed for the human genocide.'

'Tauroshit. Dark species get so much sympathy in defence, when ninety nine percent of the time, they're lying!'

'Well, then I hope that one percent doesn't happen to be the case.'

* * *

Emerging from the hilly plains, Jane, Glim and Ben arrived on the outskirts of Iris, the becalming harbour town. True to its sign information, Iris was a long ray of houses and buildings clinging onto its edge with the land. Across the sea appeared to be an island, far bigger than the town, which also had a barely visible town on its south side.

'Is that Lilac Island?' asked Glim.

'Yeah,' replied Ben. 'Nicknamed the "Flower Haven." Which is where Jane's theory should lead us.'

'Huh?'

'Oh we spoke earlier about it.'

'It was just a theory.' interjected Jane. 'But I was thinking the leader could be on Lilac, since there is no CR territory further from the capital than the island.'

'It's a long shot.'

'It's a long shot, but that's why we're stopping here for tonight. I want you two to try and blend in, while I dig info about Lilac.' ordered Jane in a calm but serious manner, walking ahead.

'No problem.' said Ben, gesturing the glaceon beside him to follow.

The Infernape had disappeared travelling down the coastal side of Iris, while Ben and Glim remained on the hilly side, overlooking Iris. On the edge of the town, nearby where the three had entered was a gigantic stone building. It was what was known as a Coronet, a religious building where pokémon worship a god, whom was also spoken to be named Arceus. Outside the building, the glaceon and garbodor found their paths blocked by a xatu, who appeared out of nowhere. Glim and Ben jumped back in surprise, but the xatu stood motionless and seemed unthreatening. Ben tried to humour him, but was ignored. Instead, the xatu slowly turned his head, making eye contact with Glim, who suddenly became a little nervous.

'Your name is Glim, is it not?' asked the creepy xatu and Glim responded with a nod.

'How do you know his name?' asked Ben.

'I have appeared before you, because God has shown me warnings for you.'

'Warnings?' said Glim.

'Many dangers follow you Glim, some will guide you. Some will try to destroy you. It seems, I am also one you must face in time.' said the xatu, whose last statement put Glim on a little more edge, Ben however seemed confused.

'Whoa wait, you're not threatening him are you?'

'Never. I am only giving my warnings, for I can see God's fury and atrocities that defile his work.'

'Okay, but, who are you?' asked Ben.

'You will forget my name, but dear glaceon, you can call me Father Charles. This is not goodbye. God has foretold that we shall meet again.' he said, disappearing at an instant.

'What was that about?' said Glim.

'It's complicated Glim. But basically, xatu often believe their future visions to be given by Arceus or who they call "God". For that reason, they do end up speaking rather creepy like that.' Ben chuckled as he resumed his walk, while Glim was still contemplating.

'Will it happen?'

'Sorry?' replied Ben, turning to face Glim.

'I said will it happen? Those warnings he was talking about.'

'Well, I don't know Glim. I have never really met many psychic types, let alone xatu. But I wouldn't worry about it, at least not right now. Now come on, we've got a refuge to find.'

Ben marched off, while Glim took one look back at the Coronet.

'Okay.' said the little glaceon, who then ran to catch up with Ben.

* * *

Within an hour, the glaceon and garbodor found a public lodging on the hillside of Iris. Glim could see that the town was simply one long circle, stretching around the coast. With the main harbour positioned in the centre, the town somewhat resembled a backward E. Ben suggested that if Jane was taking a stroll around the town, she would eventually get to where they were, in the park outside the lodge. Sure enough, after a long wait, Jane simply appeared, stumbling up the grassy slope. The infernape however seemed annoyed, like she got challenged to a fight.

'Ben, it's Jane.' said Glim, getting the garbodor's attention.

Glim leaped off the bench and skipped over to Jane, who made him feel a little concerned judging by her expression.

'Is everything alright Jane?' asked Ben.

'I'm not sure. We are definitely in some rebel territory, but the town is not as demolished as Haine or Gerbera even.'

'Maybe the Republic don't care about this town? It is the most distant town from Haine.' Suggested Ben, catching up to his friends.

'Might be, but what I do know is that we are in full on independenceville. There was rebel and uprising propaganda everywhere. Everyone here is either super pissed with the Republic or trying to survive in groups, like us.'

The garbodor chuckled, 'You think it's safe?'

'No, but I think a place like this would be quick to unveil truths if we blend in and speak to the right idiots.'

'And how do you suppose we do that?'

'Did you two find a refuge?'

'Didn't need to, look.' answered Ben, while he and Glim turned to point at the lodging behind them.

'A hotel? Alright, fine, let's go and I'll explain.'

Jane explained to her friends that there was a nightclub, named the 'Lopunny Cove,' the biggest nightclub in Iris. On the outside, the walls were completely masked in graffiti, except for the signature sign above the many doors into the club, which presented a female lopunny in a bikini, laying on her back, winking with a seductive expression. It seemed a lot of pokémon, both male and female would go there nightly, excluding Sundays. Jane's plan was for little Glim to enter and scour information about the Crimson Revolution, but under cover so neither he nor Jane or Ben would be recognised.

'Wait a minute, what!' complained Glim.

'Glim.' Replied Jane. 'We're trying to end the revolution remember? It must be you as you are the least threatening and least likely to be recognised.'

'It's- it's not the club I'm worried about, why do I have to dress up like a girl?'

'Think about it Glim, you're probably not the one who's going to kill this leader. So if they hear of someone asking about the Crimson's leadership and whereabouts, there will be less danger for us, because you're not the one after him-her.'

'Yeah, come on Glim, you have that advantage for being a cute little glaceon.' added Ben.

'Shut up!' squeaked Glim, stomping his little paws.

'Glim, we can't risk becoming targets for the CR.' continued Jane. 'If I or Ben go in questioning about the Crimson, we'll look suspicious and it might cause them to act. Whereas you're innocent and less intimidating. And believe me, cute girls get away with asking dangerous crap.'

'But I'm not a-' stuttered the glaceon, feeling complicated and starting to blush.

'Ben, I want you to stay here and if you can, look up any info about Lilac Island. Glim, I want you to come with me.' she said, standing up and moving to leave the dormitory.

'Wait, are we going already?'

'No, I went past a shop earlier that I think can help you.'

* * *

About a quarter of a mile from the hotel, on a street behind the town centre, the infernape and glaceon stopped by a store named 'Bows and Ribbons, fancy dress textiles.'

'Here, ask them for something gothitellish.' said Jane, just standing metres away from the door, while Glim approached. 'Most of CR members are of dark types, who usually wear black old fashioned clothing, if they wear clothes at all.'

'Aren't you coming?'

'This is your first test Glim. If I am to trust you in that nightclub, you will need to be able to handle a freakin shop by yourself.'

'If I come out with a sore ass, I'm blaming you. Money?' asked Glim, stopping just before the door.

'Yeah hold on.' replied the infernape, who approached the glaceon and slid fifty pounds in notes, into Glim's elastic belt.

'There, you're looking like a prostitute already.'

'Shut up!' said Glim, as Jane patted his bottom.

The coy outcast glaceon went from a wet, junky harbour town and into a shop that was suddenly a cute, sugar coated world full of happy pictures, ribbon decoration and pretty dresses.

Honestly, the glaceon had no idea what he was doing, he had already forgotten what Jane told him to find. All the dresses that were hung up or on racks only seemed pretty to him. Not sure what his size was or what he would suit him, he had never done anything like that. Thinking about it, he had never been to a store so girly before either, not with the childhood he had.

The store appeared longer on the inside too, Glim had to walk down the stretch to confront the clerks, who appeared to be a group of six girls. A bellossom and a pikachu, who were tidying the payment desk. A gothorita, who at the time was leaving the dressing room and spotted Glim. The last three girls who were chatting near the desk were a teddiursa, a clefairy and a kirlia that had blue hair and orange horns. The kirlia was named Karli and she was a rarer colour of her species.

The gothorita stopped, wondering if the glaceon was going to make an enquiry, who actually had pokémon at his eye level for once. Glim stopped, very nervously, near the kirlia, teddiursa and clefairy, failing to gain attention. The gothorita then gestured to the three girls about his presence, all of which then looked towards him.

'You alright there?' asked the gothorita.

Even the pikachu and bellossom were then staring at the quiet, timid glaceon, whose ears lowered from the sudden attention. He tried to say his name, but messed up and then tried to explain why he was there, but only spoke about how he ended up in Iris. The girls were still blankly staring at him, which made him duck down incredibly flustered.

'Uh- I-I'm sorry, what am I doing!' muttered Glim very quickly, while the bellossom, pikachu and clefairy all whispered 'aw' to each other, while Karli smiled and approached the glaceon. She knelt down before him, placing her hands on his paws to reassure Glim.

'It's okay sweetie. You're Glim, right?' asked Karli, which made Gim's ear spring upward in surprise.

'What, how did you know that?' he asked, while the shiny kirlia looked up at something near behind the glaceon.

'Wow, you weren't kidding.'

Glim stood back up and turned left, which revealed there to be a rather tall female garchomp. The sight of her being so close made Glim jump, making the garchomp chuckle. Glim wondered how he did not notice her standing there, she was huge.

'Wh- where did you come from? That's the second time someone's simply appeared, knowing my name!' squeaked the glaceon.

'So cute isn't he?' said the garchomp, gesturing at Glim, becoming even more flustered.

'So what are you here for?' asked Karli, looking at both Glim and the garchomp. 'Do you two know each other?'

'I can't say, I'm afraid. I'm only here to help the little glaceon, otherwise he'll be stuck in here for precious hours.' said the garchomp, shaking her head.

'Help?' asked Glim.

'You see, our little glaceon friend needs to get into the Lopunny Cove nightclub tonight. So he is looking for some gothic 'formal' wear.' she said in a somewhat sarcastic tone, all of which was putting Glim more on edge.

Did the garchomp know their plan? Karli looked around her at the clothes on hangers, concerned and with her teeth clenched.

'Sorry, but we don't really have much boy clothes.' said Karli, while most of the girls shook their heads, but that statement made the garchomp giggle.

Hearing such an intimidating land shark pokémon have a girly giggle made Glim freeze where he stood, anticipating what the garchomp might say next.

'Oh he knows. It's not boy clothes he's come for.'

Suddenly, the girls were all staring at Glim, while his cheeks started burning and his tail fidgeted. He kind of hated the garchomp, forgetting that he was not able to speak to the girls in the first place. Five of the girls were about to gasp, when Karli boldly stood before them, immediately silencing them.

'One moment please.'

Very suddenly, all six girls formed a group hug, looking very serious.

'Let's take this seriously, girls.' said Karli. 'He wants to get into a nightclub that is pretty mature. And clearly he's trying to hide his identity which is why he came here.'

'But come on, how often do we get to dress up a boy?' asked the teddiursa merrily.

'I dress up my boyfriend all the time.' replied the pikachu.

'Bellossom don't count.'

'But wait,' interjected the gothorita. 'Why is he trying to conceal his identity? I mean, the Lopunny Cove has some pretty horrible individuals floating around it at night. What if we're helping a spy here?'

'That's a good question actually.' said Karli, nodding and then breaking the group hug. All six girls then turned to face Glim, who was seeming more confident than before. 'Can you tell us why you want to get into that nightclub, Glim? That is a pretty dangerous place in these times.'

'We know, but we're not here to cause trouble. A friend of mine wants to know Lilac Island.'

Karli quickly shot a confused look at the garchomp before looking back at Glim. 'You know the tourist information centre is still there right?'

'U-um…'

The garchomp interjected, a little flustered herself. 'It is quite a complicated… personal matter, and would probably be best if you didn't know girls. This is a strip club he's trying to get into.'

The shiny kirlia chuckled. 'Oh what? We're not mature enough?'

'Just sparing you from the ugly side of it, and he is trying to as well.'

The giant shark dragon looked down at the innocent glaceon with a smile, while Glim nodded, secretly grateful for her support. It would have been awkward if the girls were part of the Crimson Revolution, while Glim's friend was making him scout for the leader's whereabouts to kill him.

'No problem Glim, we'll find some dresses that will best suit you for tonight.' said Karli, allowing the girls behind her to cheer.

The pikachu and bellossom went back to tidying the desk, while the teddiursa and clefairy went to set up the dressing room. The garchomp meanwhile winked at Glim and turned to leave.

'Have fun.'

'Wait, wait!' cried Glim. 'How do you know my name?'

Just when the garchomp opened the door. She paused in place, while the girls started making a lot of noise.

'That will come clear to you over time, Glim.'

'Okay.' replied Glim, confused.

'Oh and Glim.' she said, looking back at the glaceon, like she would never see him again. 'We're sorry.'

The garchomp then left the store, leaving Glim to feel somewhat lonely.

'For what?' he whispered.

A long time later, Glim had tried on multiple dresses, looking for one that enhanced his femininity in a gothic feel. He may not have had so much experience in it, but the girls made for great judges to him. Karli, the pikachu and the teddiursa would squeal in excitement, having dressed up the glaceon in a frilly maid outfit, added with hind leg stockings and a headdress for his icy crown, matching what he was wearing. The skirt was curved downward, so four legged pokémon would not have their bottoms showing, which would also have compromised Glim's disguise. The glaceon stood flustered again, like a frightened deerling.

'How do you feel Glim?' asked the pikachu.

'For this one? I feel like I want to throw up, eat it and then throw up again.' he replied.

'Oh Glim, you look adorable. In fact you have that advantage of looking so feminine for being a glaceon.' said Karli blushing.

'Yeah well, it wasn't why I evolved into one.'

'Really? Why was it?'

'It doesn't matter, I think this'll do, won't it?'

'Absolutely!' said the kirlia, pikachu and teddiursa all together.

Glim proceeded to pay for the outfit, which was only twenty quid, despite the complication and amount of décor to the dress. To save time for tonight, he decided to keep it on as he had no idea how the girls got him in it. Before the glaceon had left, Karli stopped by the door and hugged him.

'Glim, good luck.' she whispered rather emotionally, like she was also saying goodbye.

Glim could only thank her.

* * *

Later that night, Iris had darkened for the rest of many daytime pokémon, except for the many restaurants, pubs and nightclubs that were neighbouring each other on the sea front. With the old time lights and calm sea, Iris' waterfront appeared to be a rather romantic town to have a date. However, Glim and Jane had a mission. They had stopped nearby the Lopunny Cove, which was by far the noisiest club, beaming with lights everywhere and with multiple pokémon standing around outside. Glim had not seen it before and was awestruck.

'Relax Glim.' said Jane. 'You look just fine. But remember, listen out for rumours and ask people about the CR and the leader, okay? Don't just mention the leader on its own, that'll give you away. Make jokes, insult the Republic, you know? Don't look like an outsider.'

'You're not the little boy in a pervy maid dress right now, why aren't you doing this?'

'Again, because-'

'Alright, alright!' interrupted Glim, having to raise his voice against the loud music. The song that was playing was 'what does the delphox say.'

Jane said to Glim that she would continue to scout Iris for any other suspicious rumours or information on Lilac Island. Apparently Lilac was off limits and public access to the island was prohibited. For that night, the infernape was going to keep digging on the outside, while the glaceon in drag was to get an inside look into the CR.

Just outside the Lopunny Cove, Glim encountered two bouncers, one hariyama and an electivire, both were as big as the garchomp earlier. The glaceon feeling tiny once again, nervously crept closer to the entrance, before being stopped by the electivire.

'Sorry love, but do you have any ID?' calmly asked the enormous electivire, blocking Glim's path.

'ID? Did- did I need any?'

'It would just be nice to know your age.'

'I'm twenty.'

'Sorry, but you'll have to prove that, I'm afraid.' said the electivire, shaking his head, who was then interrupted by a sly sneasel, stroking Glim's bottom.

'It's alright, she's with me.' he said, standing in a cool manner.

'Another date, Angel?' asked the electivire, annoyed.

'Hey, it'll be your turn eventually, if you really want me?'

'Shut up smartass. Okay go ahead.'

Angel who kept his claw upon Glim's bottom walked ahead, unknowing that the glaceon was not a girl. Just before the sneasel got through the doors however, his arm was swiftly caught by the electivire's enormous hand, which was almost bigger than Angel's whole arm. The bouncer leaned forward, bringing his face very closely to Angel's, who was still keeping a calm and pleasant face.

'This better not be another prank, Angel.' demanded the electivire.

'It's not.' said the sneasel, while Glim had only just noticed that Angel got snatched by the bouncer.

Inside, Glim got an immediate shot of the entire club. It was one big room, glowing blue and purple, with three bars on the floor below him, which was accessible by the fancy stairs just in front of him. Being at the top of the stairs, the little glaceon could see two catwalks, one for both sides. It seemed that all pokémon sexual desires were taken into account, as the catwalks hosted pole dancers, but with each corner being very different to the others. On the left catwalk, appeared to be the female dancers, with a signature lopunny at the south end, having a whale of a time, while the north end featured a lucario, giving all her viewers dirty looks, claiming that they cannot have her. On the right side, was the catwalk with male pole dancers, much like the one opposite it, the pole dancers were extremes of either masculinity or femininity. The south end featured a machoke, not dancing much, but instead flexing his muscles, meanwhile the north end featured a gardevoir, holding onto the pole in a shy manner, showing off his femininity and making women scream all around him. Glim suddenly became convinced he would blend in, but as soon as he proceeded down the stairs, he noticed that Angel had disappeared.

The glaceon joined the lower floor, which was packed, possibly hundreds of pokémon gazing at the dancers, which put Glim at ease, not being looked at. He figured he would find some place to sit, nearby some chatty pokémon who would seem nice enough to talk to. Trying to keep to his remarkable feminine illusion, he went over to the right side, where there appeared to be far more girls, mostly due to the pole dancers. The catwalk was lit up blue, to resemble the gender of its dancers, while the opposite catwalk was a reddish pink. Glim sat next to the bar, which gave him the view of both dancers. The machoke was breaking stuff in his big fists that the spectators were giving him, while the gardevoir was calmly swinging round the pole, flicking his long green hair. The glaceon could only feel sorry for the dancers, thinking that the attention would be unbearable.

'Oh my god, I would destroy the Day Care with him.' said a malamar, gesturing at the machoke to her friend, a gengar, who both burst laughing at the joke.

Glim was just a space away from them and listened for the right moment for him to intervene. The gengar crossed her legs, leaning against the bar and pointed at the machoke.

'With a man like that, you'd never get your dishes done, why? You never do them either. You'd be better with prince charming over there.' she said, nodding at the gardevoir.

'Yeah, right. With him, I'd have no money to even have dishes!' chuckled the malamar.

Glim actually stared at the gardevoir, losing his focus. He could not help feeling familiar to the gardevoir, who reminded him of himself. Not because they were both in dresses, but because the gardevoir was so pretty and shy, yet all the women and few guys were loving him. At one point he made eye contact with the gardevoir, causing Glim to look away, afraid for some reason. He did not notice that the bartender, a dusknoir was at the desk when he turned round.

'Were you waiting sweetheart?' he asked, with a frighteningly low voice.

'N-no, I was just- nevermind!'

'That's okay.' said the giant ghost pokémon.

Glim looked to his right and noticed that the gengar and malamar were leaving.

'Crap!'

Glim paused, looking left to right. He was a little nervous to move. The nightclub had a lot of dark spots, where shady men of many species were arguing or laughing with their eyes silhouetted. He was intimidated, but the glaceon breathed in and decided to stroll all around the Lopunny Cove, to hear of anything relating to the Crimson.

On the other side, where mostly male pokémon gawk at the female dancers, a scrafty stood with his back to the bar, next to a houndoom who was finishing his drink. The houndoom was Shadow, despite his very mean appearance, he is actually rather shy and sweet. The scrafty, Boris, was rather like Angel, very laid back and appreciative. Boris was nodding at the lucario, who was stretching her leg, followed by leaning back and flexing her own muscles angrily.

'Damn, she hates everyone here.' said Boris, grinning.

'Who, the lucario?'

'Yeah.'

Shadow turned round and sat more comfortably. He did not really eye any of the dancers and would only observe them with his own opinion.

'You know, she's just there because some guys or chicks like that kind of girl. Doesn't mean she is going to like it.'

Boris went on talking about how some guys like girls with an attitude, when Shadow was distracted by something. He went wide eyed and slipped off his seat, swiftly catching himself on all fours. The scrafty noticed Shadow's erratic movement and just paused. The houndoom appeared to be relaxing his eyes, nose pointing upward slightly as he was taking deep inhales. Something was calling him.

'Dude, you alright?' asked Boris, approaching the hypnotised hound, who began twitching.

'I don't know. Something's just- I can smell something really, really good. What the hell is it?'

The scrafty then smiled widely, grabbing his bloodthirsty best friend by the head.

'Shadow, that might be your mate, man!'

'You think?'

'Dude, I don't, I'm not a houndoom! But when dogs pick up a scent like that, they go to her. This could be the one you've been waiting for. Go find her.' said Boris, giving Shadow a light push forward.

The houndoom looked back with a sarcastic look as he walked away.

'If it's just spiced meat, I'm torching your ass.' said the houndoom, making Boris laugh.

He did not know it well, but houndoom, like many species of his kind, actually find their biggest crush on certain pokémon with a specific scent or pheromone. For once in his life, Shadow as far as he knew may have finally found someone he could love. Ask any houndoom or furfrou about the mysterious scent and they will usually say the same thing, that it they could not explain it and they just wanted more of it. Like a ray of light that shows what one wants the most and when they are led to the very pokémon their favourable scent has drawn them to, they always become so powerless to control their infatuation. The houndoom followed the scent, liking every second of it, but also getting more nervous about what he will encounter.

'I'm not entirely sure this is a "her."'

After about twenty minutes of aimless wandering, Glim ended up needing to use the girl's room and due to his very feminine appearance and voice, no one questioned him upon entry. As expected the room was also packed with female pokémon gossiping, putting on makeup or just waiting for friends to finish. On his way out, Glim noticed that there were two cinccino kissing behind the door.

Eventually, the little glaceon arrived back to the same bar he set off from, having collected what he could hear. If he was honest, Glim barely heard any rumours regarding the Crimson Revolution's leader, however the subject for a lot of the creepy men at their booths was about the Crio revolution itself. A rhydon was talking about Lilac Island and how it was closed off by the revolutionaries, whilst he was complaining about not getting off Crio. Passing a booth of chatty sunflora and lilligant, they were in midst of talking about evacuating before Iris gets Dragon Raided when the glaceon had passed them. However, when he was in the girl's room, a mandibuzz was talking to someone in a neighbouring cubical about how her brother was abducted to Lilac Island, who then complained that he never returned. At the time, Glim was bursting to go, but he waited for the mandibuzz and nidoqueen to finish and come out so he could ask them about the island. It was the nidoqueen who finished first.

'When's the last time you've seen him?' she asked, leaving the cubical.

'Over a week now, darlin…' replied the mandibuzz. 'I don't know if he's even alive.'

'E-excuse me?' spoke Glim, trying to get the nidoqueen's attention.

'Don't beat yourself up about it love, he might still be over there.' the nidoqueen continued, noticing the little glaceon staring up at her. 'Yes sweetheart?'

Glim glanced at the closed cubical door, in case the mandibuzz was going to reply once more, but she did not.

'I just- I just wanted to know about that island, Lilac?'

'What about it?' she asked, looking a little saddened.

Nidoqueen's darkened eyes, and lazy posture on the cubicals showed she was clearly a little drunk. Her expression gave the glaceon the idea that she had already heard a lot of sad stories about Lilac too.

'Um… is it where, no- is it owned by the Crimson right now? Is it important?'

'Probably, it's been restricted for months now. We don't hear much from the Crimson or Republic since, y'know, Iris is a pretty boring town.'

A low down toilet flushed as the mandibuzz swiftly left, making the little glaceon sidestep out of her way.

'Lilac island is where the Crimson's most powerful member resides.' interjected the mandibuzz. 'So powerful, the Republic are actually scared to raid it. And actually, I don't blame'em, because they've been abducting people for weeks now. God knows what.'

'W-what is this member? Who is he-she?'

'He's a roserade.' answered the nidoqueen. 'My husband sent me a letter about him.' she then shook her head. 'Absolutely insane, but also blind in power.'

Glim wondered if he should have been scared, or wet himself on the spot as he was dying to go at the time. However that conversation gave him the most info he has heard so far, though it confused him. From what Glim could make out, Lilac Island was controlled by the Crimson Revolution, whom have it restricted, likely due to war reasons, keeping themselves protected, thus stopping all public ferry access. Judging by the mention of a certain roserade, it seemed Lilac Island housed an admin or even the leader itself, which might be the roserade the nidoqueen was referring to. Something was not adding up in Glim's head however, if Lilac was the home to the Revolution leader, how have the Republic authorities not bombed it yet? The glaceon sat rubbing the back of his head, since he could not actually touch his forehead with his crown of ice.

'Excuse me.' said a dark voice just behind Glim, making him jump and glance at the voice.

Just behind the cowering glaceon stood Shadow, the houndoom who had a rather curious look to him. Because Glim was on a seat at the time, he was right on eye level with the houndoom, which caused the glaceon's big, very pretty eyes to send Shadow into a deep spell of paralysis. Both Glim and Shadow were awestruck, afraid to say anything. Little Glim's fearful appearance captivated the houndoom tremendously, but Shadow became a little concerned for him.

'Are you alright?' asked Shadow, expressing care and concern.

Glim had perhaps never seen a houndoom before, but was spoken about how eerie their appearance and howls can be. The one before him, who was clearly taller had a tense feel about him, but seemed very calm and had an enticing echo to his voice that sent a somewhat grabbing sensation down Glim's back. Inside, the glaceon sickened, knowing already that the houndoom was going to hit on him.

'Uh huh.' mumbled Glim, nodding and looking away.

'It's alright sweetheart, I didn't mean to scare you.' said Shadow, drawing a little closer, letting the glaceon settle down a more comfortably.

It seemed that the houndoom was unaware that Glim was not a girl, which made the glaceon unsure whether he should feel nervous to maintaining his secret, or because of what the houndoom may ask of him.

'No no, I'm fine.' stuttered Glim. 'I was just- I mean, I've never seen a houndoom before.'

'Don't worry, most people have the same reaction. It's kind of depressing if I'm honest.' said Shadow, ending his last statement in a mumble, which Glim did not hear.

'Could I get your name love?' asked the houndoom, lightening his voice a little more.

He then noticed that he might have unnerved the little glaceon again. Shadow quickly shook his head, apologising, regretting asking for his name. Glim however was more stunned about what his named should have been, he had completely forgotten the substitute name that Jane gave him.

'No that's okay, it's- it's Glacia.'

'Glacia?'

'Y-yeah.'

The houndoom smiled. His eyes appeared to relax, adding a charm to it that only the glaceon could see. Glim did not know what to do, he knew that the houndoom really liked him, even though he was not a girl. Did he take his femininity too far? How could he unveil the truth to the beast who appeared hiding his starvation for him?

'My name is Shadow.' stammered the houndoom. 'I just wanted to say, you are the most beautiful thing I have ever seen.'

'Glacia' giggle nervously, fluttering his dress using his tail. Inside however he was a little angry.

'Yeah, that's probably because of my outfit. It was a dumbass idea!'

'Maybe so,' Shadow chuckled. 'But I think you look damn cute in that.' he winked, which made Glim smile.

Something else was odd for Glim, having only recently become a glaceon. He had never been hit on before or spoken to affectionately. Not to the extent of being able to tell if the speaker was clearly in smitten with him. Something about Shadow was grabbing him about that, making his forelegs somewhat pulling toward the houndoom.

The glaceon's ears then sprang up as he glanced at the clock above the dusknoir bartender. It was almost midnight, the time Jane asked for Glim to leave if he had found info. His work was done, he had found possibilities about the Revolution's leader, likely facts about Lilac Island, which was at least a step forward in finding the identity of the leader. Glim was keen to leave, he had not enjoyed walking in fear or embarrassment due to his disguise. Then there was the trouble of leaving, telling Shadow who was clearly blinded by love.

'Is something wrong?' asked Shadow.

'Y-yeah. I'm sorry, but I have to leave.'

'Oh… okay. Do you need someone to walk you home?' Asked the houndoom, trying to remain sensitive as 'Glacia' paused depressively.

Glim shook his head answering the last statement. Shadow returned an empathetic look.

'I don't have a home.' said 'Glacia.'

'You're not alone there. But, if you ever needed- um. You can find me at the Coronet, it's where I'm living for now.'

'At the Coronet?'

'Yes.'

'Sure thing. I-I have to go.' said Glim, slowly leaving his seat and gradually sneaking way.

Shadow chose not to follow, unwilling to creep out the glaceon any further. He felt like a jerk for scaring 'Glacia.'

'Take care, sweetheart.' he replied, secretly saddened.

Glim casually made his way back up the stairs to leave through the front doors. Strangely, the bouncers were not there, which saved the little glaceon from unveiling the truth that he was not with Angel at all. That sneasel had disappeared too, he was nowhere to be seen in the nightclub or outside. It was not a concern for Glim, he was more interested about where he was supposed to meet Jane again, except she did not tell him where to find her.

When the glaceon stepped outside, he only moved up to the old harbour fence, giving a view of the water under complete blackness. As he looked out for Jane, Glim could hear something following him. Very quickly he turned round, to see a young machop running and screaming towards Glim, who elegantly sidestepped and kicked the kid over, sending him rolling across the floor and groaning as loud as he could. The glaceon then noticed two pawniard and a sudowoodo also approaching.

'What an idiot.' grunted a pawniard, drawing closer.

The sudowoodo, leaped to his side, attempting to surround Glim.

'Hey, gimme your purse! Or we'll cut you up and eat you!' demanded the other pawniard, trying to scare Glim.

'I don't have a purse!' the glaceon shouted, trying to hide his fear.

'Prove it.'

'What?' squeaked Glim in confusion, while the sudowoodo chuckled excitedly.

The glaceon noticed the approach and violently blew freezing wind at the sudowoodo and pawniard nearby him, causing them to fall on their backs and slip on the floor that developed icy patches. With his attention drawn away, the pawniard who made demands quickly leaped onto Glim, tackling him to the floor, while he fired Icy Wind again, trying to get the pawniard off, while the other was struggling to get up. The sudowoodo was having less difficulty getting up and giggled like a clown, while the pawniard tried to cut Glim. Being much bigger than him, the glaceon was able to hold back the pawniard boy and push him off, making him almost fall into the freezing harbour water. Desperate to move, Glim bolted into the sudowoodo before he could attack him. The tree pokémon ended up tripping and catching himself on the fence and laughing more.

By that time, the machop stopped whining and got back up, pulling angry childish faces at Glim and blocking his path. The two pawniard had gotten up and were to Glim's left with the sudowoodo closely behind. Hastily the machop tried to grab the pretty glaceon, who quickly leaped over the nearby pawniard, while his brother jumped up raising his blade hand and managed to cut Glim on his side, leaving a deep papercut. The attack made the glaceon shriek and crash to the floor, still away from the four boys.

With all of them in sight, Glim used Icy Wind again, breathing out a deep white cloud that had completely hidden them. He could not see them, but could clearly hear the machop and pawniard yelling. Suddenly, the sudowoodo burst from the cloud and punched Glim square in his face, sending him a few metres back and instantly dissipating the cloud. The glaceon's face was covered in blood as he held onto his nose, holding in his cries of pain.

'Owned!' chanted the sudowoodo.

Just when the four roughs approached the glaceon any further, an enormous river of fire boomed between them and Glim, somehow setting the metal fence on fire.

'Get, away from her!' screamed an insane voice, whose was revealed to be Shadow as he leaped from the nightclub doors, landing in front of Glim as he laid helpless.

Shadow was furious, the pupils on his eyes were gone, his teeth were glowing red from his body heating up so violently. Immediately, the pawniard brothers and machop turned and began running away. Frustrated even further, Shadow blazed a wall of fire, pushing the sudowoodo back and striking the three boys on their backs. Fire attacks did not hurt the sudowoodo much, as he quickly got up and ran towards Shadow, distracted with incinerating the fleeing bullies. Just when the rocky tree pokémon raised his arm to hammer Shadow, his arm was caught by a scrafty, who then brutally kicked the sudowoodo through Shadow's fire and landing him against the fence. Boris then slid under the wall of flame, used his momentum to leap and give the sudowoodo another kick into his face, catapulting him through the bars and into the freezing water.

'Get wrecked!' yelled Boris, striking an unusual street pose.

When the houndoom finally ceased his flames of fury, he then roared a grotesque noise, making himself sound like a starving beast on a hunt. Afterwards his eyes came back, showing desperation to help 'Glacia.' In a flash, Shadow was lying on the floor in front of the beautiful face he cared for.

'Glacia! Glacia, are you alright?' he demanded as softly as he could, placing his paw over the glaceon's back.

Glim unveiled his face which did not appear disfigured, but a lot of blood had clearly poured from his nose and mouth. Boris meanwhile looked out spotting the three boys running into a pitch black alleyway.

'Shadow, you watch over her, I'll take care those punks!'

'No problem and be careful!' called out Shadow as the scrafty already began his chase. Glim stopped breathing so deeply, regaining his senses and lightly brushed his nose with his paw. His snout was incredibly sensitive from the attack which also left him a little dizzy. 'Are you okay sweetheart? You're safe now. Does anything hurt?'

'I don't think so.' said the little glaceon getting back up. His dress was wet and dirty. 'I can't seem to feel my nose though.'

'That's because that bloody sudo punched you there. Hold on.' said Shadow, also standing up and holding 'Glacia's' face with his front paws. The houndoom placed the back of his paw against the glaceon's snout, he then looked around and noticed two girls witnessing what had happened. 'Excuse me, could you get some tissue?'

Rather quickly, the croconaw ran back into the nightclub, while her rapidash friend approached the houndoom and glaceon.

'Is she alright, what happened?' the fiery unicorn asked.

'Some thugs attacked her. Can you smile for me?' Shadow asked, checking to see if 'Glacia's' face and teeth were intact. It was difficult for Glim to smile then, but in one attempt, his face appeared to be in one piece. Shadow was not really a doctor, but he would have been anything for the glaceon before him. 'You'll be alright, it was just blood.'

The croconaw returned, her left claw full of tissue. Shadow brought his paw off Glim's snout for the crocodile girl to place the tissue over it.

'Can you hold it there?' she asked and Glim was quick to press the white paper that turned dark red onto his nose.

The glaceon stared at the houndoom. 'Thank you for saving me.' he stuttered, almost crying.

'Oh no, no, I would have done that for any of my friends.'

The croconaw gave Shadow a hard friendly pat on his back.

'Go on, you saved her, hero.' she winked, followed by her and the rapidash laughing.

Shadow gave a fake laugh, trying to agree with the two girls who then left, returning to the nightclub.

'How did you know I was being attacked?' asked Glim.

In one second, all of Shadow's confidence completely sunk, stopping him from giving 'Glacia' a straight answer. He did not want to confess that he had such a deep crush for the pretty glaceon, so deep that he knew out of raw instinct that his crush was under attack.

'H-how is your nose?' he asked and Glim was frequently dabbing it and using his paw to see if he was still bleeding.

'It still hurts. Is it still bleeding?'

The pretty glaceon looked up and the houndoom drew closer to watch Glim tiny nostrils leak nothing, though they were still ruby red. As Shadow drew away, shaking his head, he realised just how close he got to 'Glacia's' face with his own. It sent chills to think of what he wanted to do so badly.

'Um, how about I take you- I mean, escort you back to… wherever you're staying?' offered the houndoom, regretting every word in what he was to call his 'smoothest chat up line ever.'

'Glacia' nodded without saying anything. He was still dizzy and could not see Jane anywhere.

'T-then lead the way milady.'

* * *

The tall houndoom walked beside the glaceon down the waterfront. It all seemed a bit too romantic Shadow thought. All the old street lights beamed their relaxing amber glow, the sea was calm as ever yet still making its rippling noises. Glim meanwhile continued walking, trying to ignore it all. For a moment, he wondered if Shadow was intending to attack the glaceon too. That train of though quickly derailed when Glim felt his large, flat tail being wrapped round by a much longer, thinner ghoulish tail. It was how quadrupedal couples would hold each other whilst strolling. Most of the glaceon's tail was under his skirt too, so he felt a tad uncomfortable about it. He looked up at Shadow with a question in his eyes.

'I-I'm sorry, sorry.' stammered Shadow, shaking his head as his tailed quickly pulled out from its hold. 'I don't know what I was…'

Glim stayed quiet, having mixed feelings about the action. He felt uncomfortable, but it was not bothering him that much. In fact, he kind of liked it. He was unsure why.

After the tail contact, it only took ten minutes for the glaceon and houndoom to reach the hill, where they were both living at the time.

'Up here? You're staying very close to where I live.' said Shadow.

'Yeah, my friend and I found a hotel, which is where we're staying tonight.'

'I wish it wasn't so cloudy, so you could see how beautiful this place gets on a starry night and that ocean view. It is just hypnotic, like looking into the eyes of a crying milotic at a full moon.'

'Wow, that's a pretty metaphor.'

'Yeah. So what were you doing on your own, girl? That area gets very dangerous at night, as you know.'

'Well, I can't go into too much detail. But-'

'You don't have to, Glacia.'

Glim paused, looking up at the fearsome yet delicate houndoom. He felt odd, not knowing what to make of the feelings he was having. Could it be he really liked Shadow, or was just so grateful for being saved by him. All he could feel was a strange urge to satisfy Shadow, like saying thank you was not enough. The sweet houndoom meanwhile was noticing that little glaceon staring awkwardly at him. Those huge teal eyes, reflecting the moonlight and those fluttering eyelashes drastically weakened Shadow's hind legs.

'You okay, Glacia?'

'Nevermind, it's nothing.' said the glaceon, finally ignoring his feelings and turning toward the hotel. 'W-well, goodnight.'

Shadow nodded calmly and smiled.

'Goodnight Glacia.'

Glim walked, only one step closer to the lodging, when he felt something pulling within his legs. Shadow meanwhile turned round and began to leave also. The glaceon wanted to return to the hotel, but felt completely bound from making any steps forward. In all his strength, Glim fought through his tension to make two steps. He really did not want to leave the houndoom, who seemed so unhappy to him.

'Wait!' Glim cried out and quickly approached the houndoom who glanced round seconds after his call.

The little glaceon thought Shadow deserved a hug at least, but then his feelings took over as he shot up and softly merged his lips with Shadow's. Suddenly, a cold shock discharged all around the houndoom's body, making his long and thin tail erect as his body sunk down in both satisfaction and thrill. It only lasted for a second, but that was enough to paralyse the both of them of their thoughts.

While the houndoom was shaking and spellbound, Glim frowned, wondering if he should tell the houndoom that he was not a girl, but instead decided that he should go.

'I-I'm sorry.' he said, finally leaving Shadow, both feeling incredibly light.

The houndoom had nothing to say, he just watched 'Glacia' quickly skip away. He then smiled, so differently than the way he would normally smile.


	3. Definitions of evil

Chapter 3:  
'Definitions of evil'

* * *

The sun had rose at eight, only behind the thick clouds. Normally, the sky was a miserable grey overcast all day around Crio. Far above in the atmosphere, the country was masked by a white whirlpool of clouds. Wherever it was cold, it would snow and if it was warmer it would rain.

That morning in Iris it was almost silent, with only the sea current lightly splashing against the harbour walls. On top of the hill, where the hotel was situated, only the wind could be heard, which gave a long rest for the pokémon up there.

On one hay bed, a completely bunched up blanket started budging left and right, until the layer on top lifted, revealing the little snout of a glaceon, who was half asleep. Lifting the blanket off his head, Glim looked to his left and noticed that Ben and Jane were not in the room. For a moment, the glaceon whumped his head onto his pillow, wanting a little more rest. He tightened his blanket around him as if it was hugging him. The tight comfortable feeling suddenly flashed a fantasy into his mind, imagining a hondoom to be the blanket around him. The thought his eyes open, as he did not even mean to think of that, it just came to him without warning. His enormous tired eyes looked down along with his ears, remembering he kissed the houndoom who escorted him home.

'Why did I do that?' he whispered.

* * *

On the other side of Iris, on the street behind the Lopunny Cove, Shadow was oddly sleeping on his back on a rusty park bench.

'What the hell happened to you, mate?' chuckled Boris.

The houndoom quickly woke and fell off the bench, but he managed to catch himself. Though a little dizzy, Shadow was quick to remember that he was napping on an old bench since he thought he was not tired enough to return home.

The old park, like the rest of the town was almost silent, since the stores across the street were closed on Saturday mornings.

'Oh, uh, nothing I was just dreaming.'

'Shut up- what, here and with those over there?' said Boris, pointing at the stores which were wedding and flower shops just opposite the playground.

'Y-yeah!' said Shadow, who then burst into laughter with his best friend, poorly trying to hide his infatuation.

'So come on. What happened with you and her?' he asked, nudging Shadow with his elbow and putting a seductive emphases on the way he said 'her.'

'Well…' stuttered Shadow.

'Did you go to town?'

'Not like that.'

'Day Care?'

'No.'

'Sixty-nine?'

'We didn't have do it, you idiot!'

'Oh what! But you saved her ass, therefore deserve that ass!'

'Boris! That's not how love works, man. She was attacked, it's pretty jerky to push her into that after what she went through. Besides, I had only met her last night.'

'So, you didn't do anything?'

'Well…'

Shadow turned toward the windows of the wedding store, featuring romantic pictures of married pokémon. Trying not to answer Boris' question was making him blush.

'Come on, spit it out.' demanded Boris in a cheeky manner.

'Right when she was leaving, she turned and kissed me.'

'Mouth?'

'Mouth.' shadow replied smiling.

'Dang dude, get in there… in fact, why didn't you? How pretty was she?'

'"Pretty" is not good enough, not for her. Her scent, her face, her voice, those eyes.'

Shadow stopped, having to look away in embarrassment. If his skin was not pitch black, he would be bright red from his thoughts alone.

Boris shook his head.

'Sorry I asked.'

* * *

In the hotel lounge, Glim emerged from the dormitories. On a small table, Ben was holding up tourist post cards of Lilac Island, while Jane who had a pen and paper, seemed to be arguing as usual. Hearing the door open made the infernape look back.

'Glim, you're finally awake.' said Jane, turning right to see the glaceon.

Ben meanwhile reached out for a chair just behind him and pulled it from another table, rotating it for Glim to join them. Still a little tired, the little glaceon climbed onto the chair.

'It would have been nice to speak to you after you, y'know, disappeared. Why didn't you wait for me?' asked Jane.

'I got attacked and some- friends, came to save me.' replied Glim, trying to hide what else happened that night.

'You didn't tell them your name, did you?'

'No.'

'And they didn't have suspicions over you?'

'They didn't even realise I was a boy, so no.'

'Okay, so what did you find out in there last night?'

'Regarding Lilac Island, locals were saying it was closed off and dangerous to approach, which is also why the docks are restricted. Two ladies said that friends of theirs were being abducted and never coming back too.'

'To Lilac?'

'I'm assuming so. As for the leader, I think he or she may be a roserade.'

'A roserade?'

'Yeah, locals were making jokes about the Republic, but those girls said about the roserade being the strongest member in the Crimson. But-'

'The Republic are just racist assholes with big mouths, especially Nicolai.' sickened Jane. 'And as for this roserade, did anyone say they were the leader?' Glim shook his head and Jane scratched her head. 'Well, it's a start. If it isn't the leader, I can still make them squirm out who the real leader is.'

'So what's the plan for today?' asked the garbodor.

'Look at this map. Now Lilac Island is generally accessed from the harbour from this town, right? But that never stopped water types or any land species from simply swimming over. Just one mile north of Iris, the isle of Lilac gets far closer. My father told me about how his parents once swam over to the isle. So I am going over to that point, to see if it still gets used or if the Crimson have already got that area rigged. If not, we are going over there tonight.'

'Then you be careful Jane, I'm sure the Crimson may have already thought of that.'

'Don't worry about me. As for you two, I want you to go to the observation point-'

'That's been destroyed.' interrupted Ben.

'The harbour point yes, I was referring to the one near the north exit. It's where tourists often take dates, so they get a clear view of Lilac Island. There you should be able to note any defences we need to beware of, or if there is any other ways we can get there.' said Jane, rolling up her map, getting up and putting her bag on.

'So, wait. You didn't figure out a way over yesterday?' asked Glim.

'There wasn't much info about Lilac, other than it was "taken over and dangerous." So it would make sense that the CR leader might be over there.' said Ben, also getting up.

'I guess.' whispered Glim.

* * *

Moving down the hill to Iris' high street, Ben and Glim walked side by side.

'Uh Glim?'

'Yeah?'

'Was there something else you wanted to tell us, back there?'

'Huh?'

'Well, last night. Um-'

Suddenly Glim's pupils went small, assuming that Ben knew what the glaceon and Shadow did.

'I couldn't help notice you're um, escort. A houndoom? Well I was just wondering what you were doing, y'know?'

'You saw us kiss didn't you?' asked Glim quickly, making Ben clench his teeth in guilt and pause awkwardly.

After pausing for a few seconds, the garbodor quickly came out with 'yeah.'

'God damn it!' Glim complained, weakly stomping. 'He saved me and was nice to me! And I felt bad for him, he really liked me and fought off four kids who punched me in the face!'

'Did they really do that?' asked Ben, looking shocked.

'Yeah.'

'Damn, well good on him for sticking up for you. But did he know about you?'

'No, he and his friend were calling me a "her," so I don't think so.'

For a moment, Glim and Ben kept quiet, but the garbodor had hoped that the little glaceon would talk more about the mysterious houndoom. It seemed obvious to Ben that Glim was a little shy on the subject, so he was to give him the little push.

'So uh, did you actually like him?'

'You mean, the houndoom? Well-'

'It's okay to be gay Glim, just saying that here and now.'

'I'm not gay!'

'You're not?'

'W-well, I don't know.'

'You sure?'

Glim kept walking, remaining quiet and thinking deeply, unable to change his worried expression as he walked. Ben looking over him also stopped talking, feeling bad for pushing the glaceon into personal queries that he himself could not answer.

Passing through the high street of Iris, the very same houndoom and scrafty were heading to the Grand Lake Hotel, where they knew 'Glacia' was staying. On their way there, Boris continued making jokes with sexual innuendos, while Shadow would respond with his mature shaking of his head. Coming from the other side however was a garbodor and a little glaceon who was glancing at the closed down stores. When Glim spotted the houndoom and scrafty only metres away, his pupils went tiny. Acting casual and fast, he merely walked just behind Ben who was more than big enough to cover him from being spotted as they passed the two young men. When the big garbodor had passed Shadow and Boris, the glaceon rushed in front, hiding himself if the houndoom looked back. Ben had noticed Glim walking in a strange manner and asked if something was wrong. Glim kept his mouth shut and only shook his head, as they carried on. The garbodor briefly looked back at what they just passed.

'Was that him?' he asked quietly and Glim responded with a light nod.

Shadow stopped, which was followed by his ears and tail erecting, while his own pupils grew small. Boris also stopped, noticing the houndoom in his freeze.

'Dude, what's wrong?'

'Do you smell that?'

'Uh, smell what? I mean there was a garbodor that just passed us, but I didn't smell anything.' Shadow turned around, fixing his eyes on Ben at first, before recognising the cobalt blue blur in the distance walking next to him. He knew that scent anywhere, the glaceon next to the garbodor was the same one, who he was helpless to resist. 'What is it bro?'

'Glacia.' Shadow replied excitedly.

* * *

At the destined observation deck, Glim and Ben were keen to see if any of the payable binoculars worked. There were only five and after wasting a pound, none of them worked, however, the giant pokémon made of rubbish insisted that the one on the far west could be easily repaired. While the garbodor fiddled with the lens, scratching small objects from his body, the little glaceon noticed a conkeldurr, on a bench nearby, who was just staring out to the ocean. The conkeldurr appeared old aged, judging by the wrinkles and darkened spots on his skin.

'Ooh! I think that's it.' cried Ben, looking into the lens. 'I had to hack it, but, it was already broken.' Glim approached and stood on his hind legs, trying to reach the binoculars, looking like a pichu for being helplessly small. The garbodor used his left morphed arm to give the glaceon something to stand on. Glim tried to look through lens, but then smacked his face for leaning too far forward. 'Whoa, sorry Glim. Hold on.'

Ben looked back for some object. He spotted a wet crate next to wall behind them and the garbodor had to extend his much longer right arm to grab it. Ben slid the box beneath the little glaceon, which gave him enough height to use the binoculars.

Glim could see Lilac Island, it was much closer but details on the island were still difficult to see. He could at least make out an uphill trail and a few cottages at what appeared to be the docking point of Lilac. Most of the town was up on the island's hill, which was out of sight through the binoculars. Other than the few signs of housing, there was nothing else but grey and green water and dismal weather between the two towns.

'See anything?' asked Ben.

'There's a few houses, but I don't see any defences, or ships.'

'Keep looking, I'm gonna take a look under the water!' Ben called out, whilst running for the ladder gap on the deck. Glim glanced at Ben in confusion, thinking he had misheard the garbodor, since the water is usually freezing at that time of year. True to his word, Ben casually climbed down the ladder. As soon as his junky feet went under the water, he screamed out loud in shock, as though a harpoon was fired into him. The glaceon meanwhile could only shake his head and smile. 'What the fuck is Jane on about! This water is colder than David Camerupt, oh my God!'

The conkeldurr nearby chuckled, while Glim continued eyeing the island. The garbodor eventually climbed down into the water, still shouting as he did.

The garbodor was not the only pokémon to be oblivious at that moment, as little Glim innocently remained staring at the choppy water, someone was creeping up behind him. A houndoom, whose body was stuck in magnetism for the scent of the glaceon before him. Shadow knew deep inside that it was the same glaceon, but every step closer struck fear into his paws. Far behind him, overlooking the approach was Boris, who was a little tense about what Shadow was doing.

'Dude!' angrily whispered Boris, far too quiet for either Shadow or Glim to hear. 'Shadow, what the hell are you doing!'

Right behind the glaceon of his dreams, Shadow raised his nose, silently inhaling that scent he craved. Every time the houndoom had to exhale, he had to look away so his insanely hot breath would not alert Glim. He felt like an enormous creep doing that, enjoying the glaceon's scent so deeply while he was unaware. At that angle however, with Glim undressed and being higher up, allowed Shadow to see the truth for himself, something that had cast a cold, demonic dilemma over him. Slowly, the houndoom walked backward. He really wanted to call 'Glacia' and ask if that was him, but he already knew it was. Even in his attempt, the name he wanted to say just did not escape his tongue. What was once affection had been taken over by terror as the houndoom turned and just as quietly ran away. The scrafty, unaware of what Shadow discovered could only follow him.

When Shadow had run off, Glim had enough of the binoculars, just not able to see anything other than what he had already seen at first. He then turned to the conkeldurr, who was looking at him with interest.

'Friend of yours?' he asked.

'Uh, yeah, like my big brother.' Glim replied, assuming the conkeldurr to be referring to Ben. The huge muscular conkeldurr glanced down the alleyway for a moment, looking for the houndoom and scrafty. 'Can I, ask you something? Um, I don't suppose you know anything about that island do you? Like how to get there?'

'This "revolution" really is that serious, isn't it? Lilac Island was a holiday resort until now. I was part of the structural engineering way back when, for the big boats that would cross the sea. But now, those vessels are gone, the lighthouse was destroyed and that there harbour is forbidden for any boats to use. Which means that we don't definitely know what is happening over there. All we hear from the island are rumours.'

'I've been hearing rumours too. Some say that the leader of the Crimson is over there.'

'Crimson? I wouldn't know, I'm afraid.' said the conkeldurr, blankly fixed to the view of the island merging with the watery horizon that was the ocean.

Glim meanwhile was interested to see if there was a lighthouse as the old conkeldurr said. He looked up and turned all around and did not see any tall figure.

'Wait, there's a lighthouse here?'

'There was.' replied the conkeldurr, pointing to his west, at a hill that sloped downward before it became a cliff. Glim could see an oddly shaped light grey rock, standing in front of the cliff. 'Do you see the whitish grey rock down there?'

'Oh, that's it is it?'

'Yeah, don't know who destroyed it, don't know why. But that never stopped us from sailing, you know.'

'It didn't?'

'You're a glaceon, so are you able to use the move Signal Beam?

'Signal Beam?'

'It was one of few moves some us could use to help guide sailors in. In fact, if you can use it, you may see something else from the island over there.'

Glim jumped off the crate, standing between it and the conkeldurr. He breathed out into the air, but only used Icy Wind. The move Signal Beam was described to be an insectoid attack, made of light, shining in all colours of a rainbow. For an ice pokémon, the move resembled Aurora Beam, only it was not so cold and would apparently make the user feel very strange inside at first. When Glim tried to use the technique, he breathed out and failed completely. Signal Beam was not made from ice like Aurora Beam. Keen to see that response that Lilac would give, the glaceon was not giving up.

'How would your friends use it?'

'It generates from you're aura, much like how bugs can light themselves up, yeah? Light yourself up and fire your laser. It'll come naturally when you can show that there aura of yours.'

* * *

On the hill next to Iris' north exit, Shadow was laying down on the grass, where he could see the whole of Iris, including the Coronet on the other side. He was stuck in thought, unable to stop thinking about the glaceon he knew as 'Glacia' and loved so much, only to have his feelings crushed by one fact.

'Yo, why'd you run?' asked Boris, just catching up to Shadow. 'What's up? Dude I was terrified, man. I thought if you got any closer, a big red exclamation mark was gonna sound above her head!' The houndoom remained quiet. 'You okay? Why didn't you say anything to her?'

'It wasn't a her.' mumbled Shadow, finally breaking his silence.

'What? If it wasn't her, why'd you get so close?'

'I said, "it wasn't a her" as in- well, Glacia's a dude.' replied the houndoom standing up.

Boris showed a little surprise to the reveal, letting the news sink in.

'Really? Holy crap. Wait a minute, how didn't you notice that before?'

'I did- sort of, but remember she was in that dress and her- his face was just so beautiful to me.'

'Dude, I didn't get my own look at her last night, I was only there to help save her ass. Besides, what's the problem, maybe you like him for that?' suggested the scrafty, making the houndoom jump in shock.

'It's- it's not "him," that's the problem here!'

'Then what? Dude, it's okay to be gay- Oh!' said Boris, suddenly realising Shadow's full dilemma. 'It's because of Father Charles isn't it?'

Shadow nodded, as though his veins had frozen.

'He's going to kill me when he finds out.'

'That's if, he finds-'

'No, Boris you don't understand, he's a freaking xatu, they can see the future all the time. He probably already knew of my escorting last night and even if he doesn't, he'll probably have learned about what I did.'

'And all you did Shadow, was like a dude who looked like a chick, which maybe he'll brush off as just a mistake. We all make them, man.' said Boris, making Shadow pause, who first looked down, before looking over at the Coronet.

'I sure hope you're right Boris. Because apparently Arceus hates gays according to him, and should be sent down to Giratina.'

'You really believe all the shit he says? What if he's just saying that to control you?'

'Then I hope you're right again. You're forgetting I have to go back there, for having no home, right?' asked Shadow, which ended their dispute, with both of them looking over at the Coronet.

Their attention was then drawn away, toward the observation deck when a long stream of rainbows suddenly started beaming up to the sky.

* * *

A beam of light was being fired from the little glaceon, who looked like he was screaming. When the move finished, Glim was out of breath. The watching conkeldurr next to him clapped his huge hands.

'That's how you do it, now hold on.' he said, looking back at the island.

Glim also looked back at the island and suddenly a bright pink light flashed from the top of the island, on its horizon. The flash looked very pretty, like a rainbow of multiple shades of pink. The glaceon gasped, afraid that he triggered something.

'What was that?' asked Glim, hiding behind the bench, that the conkeldurr was sitting on.

'That there move was called Dazzling Gleam, another signal technique we'd use.'

'That also means someone is over there.'

'Indeed.'

'You think they need help?'

'Well. I like to think that someone over there just misses the peace that Crio once had. So they use that move to keep the spirit of our bonding alive. Even at grim times, when the lighthouse were inactive, we still had each other.'

As the conkeldurr finished talking, a big pokémon made of rubbish started climbing out of the water. Yelling and swearing as he came out, Ben was shivering and frequently grunting in pain. When the garbodor got onto the deck again, he approached Glim.

'Anything down there?' asked the glaceon.

'N-Nothing but junk and corsola, who- who said they see nothing down there.' said Ben, struggling to speak through his shivering.

'Okay, but we now know there is definitely someone over there. Someone who might need help.' said Glim, staring out to the island.

The pretty image of the Dazzling Gleam he saw was stuck in his eyes. To the little glaceon, it felt like a cry, a sign desperate for help.

* * *

Outside the Coronet, a massive old age building made of stone, with a large cemetery behind the structure, two boys stood, several metres from the main doors. Shadow was tense, afraid and serious. He wanted to know if the priest Father Charles knew of his mistake and if he was to be forgiven for it. Knowing the xatu well, the houndoom was prepared for all his secrets to be pulled from his head yet again and whether or not they would be thrown back at him was a matter of luck to him. His plan was to simply pass Charles, like any other day, as though nothing had happened. If the xatu greets him as usual, he would know he was in the clear.

'Y'sure you don't want me to help, dude?' asked Boris.

Shadow shook his head.

'No. He's balanced and cares for me, I'm sure he'll understand. I was mistaken as you said.'

'Well, good luck. If something happens, I'll- I'll think of something.'

'Thanks.'

The houndoom had to use his key to open the high doors, which were heavy for any little pokémon to simply push open. Inside, Shadow could see Charles at the altar far ahead, who was praying as usual. The houndoom intended to leave the door behind unlocked, in case if anything bad did happen, but right as he began his approach, he received a telepathic message.

'You have left the doors unlocked son.' coming from the priest.

The houndoom pretended to have forgotten as he glanced back to the door. Boris outside, with his back to the wall heard the door lock, which made him slightly tenser. Shadow still kept his calm, the doors was to stayed locked at all closing times for the public and everyone who lived in the Coronet had their own key. The houndoom clipped the key back on his collar and proceeded down the aisle, heading for the stairs, which was passed the xatu.

'Afternoon Father.' said Shadow, as he passed Charles, who did not answer.

'Shadow.' said the Xatu, just before the houndoom reached the old stairs, causing him to stop in his tracks. Shadow frowned, clenching his teeth. As anticipated, the father already knew about his feelings for the glaceon. 'Is there something you want to tell me?'

Shadow turned around, unafraid to confront his fear, since the xatu seemed to know already.

'Something tells me you already know.' answered Shadow.

'Yes.'

'Then allow me to justify myself Father. That night when I met that glaceon, I was mistaken, for multiple reasons. I had several drinks that night, disrupting my judgement. The glaceon was dressed in a very provocative outfit, who probably wanted that kind of attention and when he got attacked, he was the one who kissed me. Even though we had only met that night, he clearly liked me, which was not in my control Father. You yourself, always told me to stand up for those innocent who get attacked.'

'Of course. But answer me this.' said Charles, suddenly reappearing right in front of Shadow.

'Was that glaceon innocent?'

The houndoom froze in place, causing his heart to start racing. Remembering that the priest claimed homosexual pokémon evil at birth.

'I was mistaken-'

'You fell for that glaceon!' shouted Charles, somehow making his head bigger and his eyes turn black. The xatu then slapped the houndoom with his wing. Shadow only flinched. 'That glaceon has cursed you! God made male and female, to carry the miracle of life! It is wrong for anything to fall for its own gender!'

Out of his sight, Shadow was suddenly picked up into the air by Telekinesis, coming from multiple bronzor and baltoy.

'Wait, what're you doing!' demanded Shadow, while his paws were being pulled hard.

'God is furious with you, which was why he sent me those visions. You have to be healed Shadow.'

'How?'

'He will give you the choice. Go back to that glaceon and send him back to Hell!'

'What!'

'You heard me, Shadow! That freak of nature is a mistake and God does not make mistakes. You will go and kill him and remove the curse he casted to your soul!' roared Charles, taking part in pulling Shadow's limbs harder.

'You think…' stammered the houndoom, clenching his fangs. 'You think God wants that Father?'

'I do not "think" my boy, I know he does.'

'Just say he did create him! Just think for one second! You really want me to kill one of his creations, because you think he hates the glaceon?'

'You will not question his ways, heretic!' shouted Charles, tightening his grip on the helpless hound. 'The gays are made by Giratina, not God! Now go kill your glaceon or I will have to sacrifice you!'

In the immense pain, Shadow wanted to say he would, but the memories of 'Glacia's' scent, sweet behaviour and beautiful eyes seemed to quell his pain. The houndoom did not want to kill his glaceon and refused to give in to fear, making his only option being to retaliate. Shadow roared a huge dark pulse of energy that zoomed toward the father, who vanished just before it hit him. The Dark Pulse carried on going through the wall and floor behind the xatu. Charles reappeared above the floating houndoom and swung his wing, emitting a sharp wave of air, that spun Shadow down to the ground and knocking him out. The attack kept going until it hit the big metal door, making them thud loudly.

On the outside, the scrafty was already aware that Shadow was under attack. He was right up against the door, eavesdropping on the incident, until the doors hit him away. Boris was only hit back a metre, but realised that despite dark type pokémon having ignorant immunity to psychic type attacks, the houndoom was not able to fight the xatu.

'Oh shit!' said Boris, glancing around.

Knowing that Charles had brought multiple pokémon to assist him, the scrafty knew he would have to do the same, if he was to stand a chance. Remembering that 'Glacia' was staying at the hotel very close by, along with a garbodor, Boris rushed for it. As luck would have it, before Boris even got close to the Grand Lake Hotel, he spotted the very same glaceon and garbodor climbing the hill toward it. Without thinking, the scrafty jumped down the hill, forgetting how steep it was, causing him to start tumbling down it.

'Try not to catch a cold Ben.' said Glim.

'Funny, I can't be poisoned anyway.'

'So when are we going to find Jane?'

Before Ben could answer the glaceon's question, they were interrupted by the sound of Boris smacking the concrete behind them. He grunted from the recoil and was covered in dirt due to the hill. Glim meanwhile, still afraid of being recognised hid behind the garbodor as the scrafty shook himself before getting up.

'Glacia, Glacia! Major problem!' said Boris leaning left, trying to see the glaceon he already saw.

'Whoa, whoa, easy.' said Ben raised his arms, trying to prevent the scrafty from seeing Glim. 'Who're you talking to?'

'I need to speak to Glacia, now! I know he's behind you. Glacia, Shadow is in danger!' called Boris, while Ben had nothing to say, knowing that Shadow was Glim's escort who saved him.

The glaceon also wanted to speak to Boris, but was afraid of the scrafty knowing anything more about him. Instead he peeked around the big garbodor, looking into the eyes of the scrafty, who appeared incredibly desperate.

'Glacia look, we already know you're a dude, but Shadow, y'know, the guy who saved you is going to be killed!'

Hearing those words, put Glim into a shock.

'W-what's happening to him?' the timid glaceon finally spoke.

'Long story! His father is going to kill'em if you don't help, come on!'

Glim just stood, too frozen with fear to answer, but then the garbodor turned to face his little glaceon friend.

'Glim, let's go!'

'What?'

'Where is he now?' demanded Ben.

Boris, pointed up the hill and already began running up it.

'He's trapped in the Coronet, let's go!'

The garbodor knew it would be quicker for him to climb the hill path and take the left turn for the Coronet. But before Ben could start his climb, he noticed Glim was looking up at him with worry in his eyes.

'What are you doing?' asked Glim.

'What're you doing? Aren't you going to help Shadow?'

'I-I don't know.'

'Glim! He saved your life, he fell in love with you, and now he's going to be killed.' The little just paused silent, looking away, like he was not interested and regretting it. 'If you're not going to save him, I will.' said Ben, running ahead.

The glaceon watched as Ben hastily ran up the hill, quick for a garbodor. He wanted to follow Ben, deep down he wanted to save Shadow, but what he feared most was himself. Glim knew that the houndoom was madly in love with him and even if Shadow knew he was a boy, the glaceon was also afraid of what might happen if he was proven to be gay. Would the same attacks happen to him for letting the houndoom love him? Did Glim even love him too?

Closing his eyes, little Glim tried to walk back to the Grand Lake Hotel, like it was not his problem. After all, it was the houndoom who came to him and would not leave. How he knew that the little glaceon was not a girl confused him, but honestly, he did not want to know. They had only met the day before and at a nightclub too. The more he thought about it, the worse Glim thought about the houndoom. But then, right as he reached the top of the hill, seeing the hotel, he remembered that the houndoom saved him from those thugs. He cared for the glaceon and walked him home. Glim already felt as if he used him for a sucker for love, which stopped him from getting any closer to the lodging. He could not believe what he was thinking, he was hating himself then. In return of a genuinely kind houndoom who both saved him and protected him, Glim was just going to let Shadow die.

The glaceon then glanced behind him, seeing the towering Coronet rather close and began to run to it, forming a more determined face. He could see Ben and Boris were already hacking at the doors in the distance. On his way down the road, he caught glimpse of several black objects flying to his right. Glim gave it one glance, but whatever he saw flew behind the Coronet. He was pretty sure he saw a load of floating eyes with black shapes as part of them.

'Revenge be ours.' whispered a young voice, echoing in Glim's head.

Neither Ben nor Boris saw Glim approaching behind them. The garbodor was working on unscrewing the hinges, while the tough scrafty kept using his Hi-Jump Kick, doing great damage to the doors on each attempt.

'It's almost open!' grunted Boris.

'Go, Go, Go!'

The scrafty boomed through the doors, making the one to his right fly off its hinges behind him, while the other survived, but barely. Boris landed on his feet, into the Coronet, but as he did, he was met by a huge gust of wind, forcing him back. Almost falling backward, Boris was caught by the large trashy body of Ben, who being much heavier was determined to proceed through the wind. The source of what was called Tailwind, was coming from Father Charles himself. The xatu priest was standing in front of an unconscious houndoom, who was left on his back on the altar, while the six baltoy were hovering in a circle around him. The four bronzor meanwhile were idly floating above the xatu father, awaiting instructions.

Struggling to move any faster, Ben persistently pushed through the fierce wind, with Boris stuck on his front. The xatu had advantage to use Air Slash, whipping up his wing and unleashing a wave of energy toward the scrafty. Boris could only deflect the attack by swiftly redirecting the wind against his arm and sending it passed him, which still hit the garbodor by the arm, making him nudge back slightly.

'You alright?' shouted Boris.

'I'm fine, keep going!'

'Begone!' shouted Charles, raising his wing and lashing another wave of concentrated air.

In attempt of getting closer, the scrafty endured it, which left a long cut down his belly and arms, where he attempted to block the attack.

When the garbodor had managed to get half way down the aisle, the bronzor finally moved in and all glowed an aqua blue. The bronzor were using telekinesis, to stop Ben and Boris in their place. The two were not picked up, both together were too heavy for just four bronzor. As soon as the telekinesis had stopped the garbodor and scrafty, the wind died down.

Father Charles intended to recast the Tailwind spell, but just when he looked away, Boris forced himself out of the psychic hold and tried to run up to the xatu, but he was quick enough to swing his wing once more, striking the scrafty with concentrated air at point blank. Boris was hit so hard, he was thrown up into the air, well over Ben and crashing in front of the door, leaving the scrafty badly cut up and cracking his shoulder. While Boris weakly yelled in pain, a little glaceon leaped out from behind Ben and blew a strong cold wind, hitting all the bronzor and the xatu while they were distracted. Charles was blown back against the alter, while the floating bronzor only shook as they were not so affected by cold air. The Icy Wind however, did release Ben from the Telekinesis.

Glim was more interested in saving Shadow and ran ahead, but the xatu priest already saw of his approach.

'Freak!' shouted Charles, using Air Slash as the glaceon tried to jump over him and hitting him past Ben, though not as far as Boris.

The garbodor lightly jumped, attempting to crush the xatu with his body, who retaliated by summoning wind that appeared black and screaming in Ben's ears. The attack pushed the garbodor down to the floor in front of the xatu, while holding onto his ears. Father Charles stood on Ben's head, while two bronzor descended to make sure the pokémon made of weak rubbish stayed down.

Half way down the aisle, Glim got back up, angry and upset, so desperate to stop the baltoy from whatever they were doing to Shadow. The xatu meanwhile, pressing his talon on Ben's head harder, glared at the little glaceon, like he was some hero from a fairy tale and Glim was a monster to be slayed.

'You do not get it, do you glaceon! You cannot save him, because God forbids it! Diseased pokémon like you belong in Hell!'

'You liar!' screamed Glim, on the verge of crying.

Without answering, the xatu waved his wing fiercely, unleashing another Air Slash. The glaceon jumped back, easily dodging it, but putting more distance between him and the houndoom. Glim was just in front of the injured scrafty when he looked up and noticed something above Shadow.

A huge dark silhouette was manifesting quite high above the altar. It appeared very thick and with a long tail. Seeing it caught Glim's attention more than Father Charles' insanity.

The xatu yelled. 'Do not defy the words of God, you parasite! God speaks to me! I speak his words! I am God-'

It was then, when Glim had first witnessed what would become his worst nightmares. A ruthless, enraged, undying monster who would never quit.

Father Charles was suddenly stabbed by the shadowy figure floating behind him. What looked like a giant black tail with a stinger on the end had burst right through him, revealing his ribcage and spewing his cold blood everywhere. The xatu did not even scream, he sort of flinched in shock as the tail lifted him off Ben, who was also dumbfounded at what he was seeing.

The entire dark figure fully revealed itself to be a massive, grotesque being that appeared to be a fusion of three dead pokémon at once. The tail resembled a gyarados, except it had a long stinger that was on fire and leading up the tail seemed to be a giant simisear, with the giant mouth of a gyarados and massive insectoid wings on its back. The simisear part was also on fire, much darker than usual and grown on its shoulders was the head of a vespiquen that had bulky fiery arms of its own. Wrapped around the fusion was the last head which looked like a gyarados' head, but without its mouth and having huge insect eyes, while its head was on fire. The whole creature was horrific to look at, mostly because of those dead, black eyes all three heads had.

The simisear part stretched out its arm, which glowed black and then swiped the xatu priest with a dark attack. Immediately, something had changed, but little Glim had not noticed what happened, until he saw something green rolling towards him. He glanced down and saw the head of Charles, stopping dead in front of him. The glaceon leaped back screaming, hitting Boris as he was getting back up.

'Yo! Caref- what the hell is that!' yelled the scrafty only noticing the huge monster, with the rest of Charles' body slipping off its tail.

The bronzor and baltoy had noticed their leader was dead and the very sight of the multiform creature sent them all floating away in a panic. At the same time, Ben attempted to roll passed the giant and try to rescue Shadow who was still unconscious on his back. The many little psychic pokémon scattered and Ben managed to pick up the houndoom and carry him, running up the stairs.

'Go, get out of here!' shouted the garbodor, also frightened by the giant creature, only hoping that Glim and Boris were running also.

When Ben had shouted, leaving the scene, the creature tried to attack him with its tail, swiping a similar wave attack like Air Slash. Luckily, the garbodor got up the stairs just in time. The glaceon and scrafty meanwhile also attempted to escape, but the door way was suddenly blocked by a swarm of nine unown, all of which had no pupils and had an eerie green glow to them. The alphabetical pokémon used Hidden Power to project a laser in front of Glim and Boris, forcing them back. Boris was seriously injured and Glim was terrified.

The three headed monster growled, slowly floating towards Glim and Boris.

The little glaceon was frozen in place, but Boris stepped forward, clicking his cracked shoulder and trying to summon his rage.

'Bring it then.' mumbled the scrafty, who ran ahead and jumped high.

The simisear part of the monster swung its enormous arm like a hammer, sending Boris through the stone wall. The glaceon was all on his own as the beast continued creepily floating towards him. Unable to move back any further, Glim blew his freezing cold air to slow the giant creature, which did slow it down, but it was barely fazed, making no reaction in response. The little glaceon tried throwing a shard of ice at the simisear head, which did nothing. Glim turned around and tried to dash past the unown blocking his path, as the multiform monster rose up its tail, about to attack again. He managed to dive past the unown, however they were already using their Hidden Power, hitting the ground behind the glaceon, which sent him and the unown flying out of the Coronet.

Glim who was not hurt much from his crash, had landed on the edge of the hill and as he looked up, the simisear, gyarados, vespiquen fusion rematerialized instantly from a dark cloud in front of him. With nothing to lose, the glaceon stood and shot his laser made of rainbows at it, trying to buy himself time to escape. Instead, the monster screamed in multiple pitches of its voices and remained twitching in the air. Glim was surprised to see the monster appearing to be in great pain, he took several steps back, fearing it was going to explode. Looking around, he could see that the unown were also acting up, twitching violently, as if they were furious and in pain. The glaceon glanced up at the monstrosity, to see it was suddenly right in front of him. Its soulless black eyes had gotten bigger and started leaking black water. It crashed on top of Glim, screaming in fury and sending the glaceon into a blind panic, using Signal Beam again. The monster thrashed on the floor trying to kill Glim, only to flail, hammering the floor with its very bulky arms and tail. But the little glaceon being pinned down by that creature had him panicking, fighting for his life. Suddenly the enormous multiform creature appeared to be getting projected into the air by the attack made of rainbows, until it completely turned a dark purple and started crumpling into itself.

Feeling as though he had managed to kill it, Glim relieved himself from using Signal Beam, allowing himself to breathe. He was shaking, gazing up at the dark figure that the monster appeared to be compressing into. Just when it seemed it could not get any smaller, the black figure it had shrunk to quickly faded, revealing an unconscious pansear, combee and magikarp. The three little pokémon fell and were caught before hitting the ground by the nine angry looking unown, which then started circling around them as the three were gently put down on the ground.

The cold little eeveelution being several metres away from the event, got back on his feet, frightened and confused, but curious about what was happening. Nearby, a scrafty emerged from the side of the Coronet, who glanced left and right, looking for the monster, despite how exhausted and injured he was. Boris noticed Glim, standing very tense and shaky and started limping towards him.

'Glacia!' called the scrafty, limping with an aggressive expression. 'You alright?'

Glim stayed silent, only glancing back for half a second, undeterred to take his eyes off the monster again. Boris stopped just next to the little glaceon. He seemed furious.

'Is that it?' he demanded, pointing at the unown and three pokémon in the circle.

'I-I think so, I don't know!' squeaked Glim.

The pansear slowly stood and turned to look at the two far behind her. her eyes were still pitch black and she looked like she had difficulty standing. The combee was also waking up again.

'Save us.' whispered the pansear, magikarp and combee, still in their very loud echoing voice.

'What?' replied Glim.

'We pleaded. We wailed. We died. We are Martyr. Revenge be ours!' they said, getting angrier by each statement and making the unown glow red.

'Let's kill it!' said the scrafty.

Suddenly, Boris and Glim were pushed back by a wave of energy, which sent them to the floor. When they looked up, they saw another strange being, standing between them and the unown circle. It was only five and a half foot and in what appeared to be a green farmer's jumpsuit, sage green wellington boots. It had short black hair, pale white skin and like the little pokémon, it had completely black eyes. Seeing the creature made Boris' eyes widened.

'A human? But-' stuttered the scrafty, who was interrupted by the human suddenly appearing before him and with a furious expression blasted a bright white ball of energy through Boris' head.

The scrafty's body was projected back, bouncing off the floor until it hit the Coronet.

Glim screamed, as the human faced the little glaceon and pointed at the unown.

'Return!' commanded the human.

The unown immediately vanished, bringing the three wounded pokémon away. The glaceon took steps back, hoping the human would leave him alone.

'There will be no survivors.' said the Martyr remnant, charging the same attack he used on Boris.

Out of fear, Glim went straight to using Signal Beam, while the human fired his Aura Sphere, which exploded with the beam of rainbows, pushing the glaceon back slightly.

Martyr paused for a few seconds and then took a few steps closer, while Glim took steps back. Very swiftly the human raised its arm, firing another ball of light at an instant and the glaceon almost cowered, only propelled by his will to live which forced him to counter with Signal Beam again. The Aura Sphere exploded almost in Glim's face. Suddenly the human leaped incredibly high into the air with its arm pointing up and formed a huge ball of shadows, which pulsated like a heart with electricity bursting from it. Martyr suddenly disappeared, only to reappear right behind his Shadow Ball and kick it down to the little glaceon, who again resorted to firing his beam of rainbows. The human's attack that time exploded much closer to Glim's face, forcing him back into a tumble. Black clouds had spread around the path from the Shadow Ball, hiding the glaceon and the human who landed far from Glim.

'What the hell was that!' called a deep voice.

The human twitched, responding to the call and hissed.

'We shall meet again, glaceon.'

'Who are you?' asked Glim, whose sweet innocence only made the remnant pause, glaring at him longer.

'We pleaded. We wailed. We died. We are Martyr. Revenge be ours!'

The human suddenly vanished, the same way the unown did.

When the fight was finally over, the huge dark clouds dissipated and Glim sunk to the floor, trying to take in what just happened. He could see Boris' headless body just lying on its back. The frightening images of the multiform creature slowly floating towards him, trying to save Shadow from the xatu and the deaths of Charles and the scrafty was flashing in his eyes, overwhelmed him as he began to breakdown.

Seconds later, a houndoom shot passed the side of the Coronet, spotting Glim just before he was about to rocket down the hill.

'Glacia!' he gasped, scuffling with the floor, changing his direction. 'What hap- Boris!' shouted Shadow, stopping between the corpse and the crying glaceon.

Soon afterward a big garbodor rushed out from where the houndoom had appeared.

'Oh my God, what happened?' cried Ben.

Shadow rushed closer to the frightened glaceon who was covering his head with his paws. Glim could feel the nose of the houndoom nuzzling him, not in the way that meant he was safe, but more in desperation for an answer.

'Glacia, are you alright? Glacia!'


	4. Falling for your friends

Chapter 4  
'Falling for your friends'

* * *

Iris Town was experiencing a frenzy after what had occurred outside the Coronet. Most of the citizens who resided and were independent from the revolution had gathered on the hill. Pokémon all around the Coronet were spouting senseless rumours to what could have happened. Apparently no one had witnessed the Martyr remnant, Boris' death or Glim's face off with the human figure. Everyone who had gathered were there out of curiosity, afraid that their town was being raided by the Republic or Crimson Revolution, despite already being claimed as revolutionary territory. As part of the local's investigation, the bodies of the scrafty and xatu priest were escorted from the scene.

The glaceon meanwhile was taken to the medical centre, right next to the bottom of the hill. He was not injured physically, excluding the few cuts on his body from Charles and the rough collision from the Martyr manifestation. Glim's real damage was to his mind, unable to get the image of the Martyr creature's slow approach, or Boris' death or Charles' rage out of his head. With him was Shadow, keeping his viciously hot paws around his little glaceon who was trying to not cry.

Shadow was fortunate to have woken after Ben saved him and to have missed what had transpired between Glim, Charles and Martyr, but he regrets not having been there to help his boyfriend. Had he been able to fight the xatu priest, maybe Boris would still be alive. At the moment, the two were sat in the Accident and Emergency section, both Glim and Shadow having been assessed. The loyal garbodor however went back to the Grand Lake Hotel to find Jane, who he did not have time for earlier.

The traditional nurse pokémon of Crio were azumarill, however before the Republic chose to destroy Crio's beautiful diversity, the country was known for having no stereotypes and traditions. An azumarill came back for the two patients who had survived the ordeal at the Coronet.

'Can I ask how you are doing Shadow?' she asked. 'Has your sight stabilised?'

'Yes, thank you.' replied the houndoom. 'It was just a knock to my head and a hypnosis spell.'

'Do you see any echoes to my ears?' asked the nurse, pointing up at her ears.

'No, nothing. I wasn't that dizzy when I woke up, I think.'

'That's good. And what about him?'

The little glaceon was still bunched up, sitting awkwardly in front of Shadow as he held him, like a vulnerable broken child. Glim did not move nor answer and was just taking deep breaths, trying to hold in his tears.

'He had his examination, which went well.' answered Shadow, nuzzling his glaceon. 'As for the feels, he's calmed down.'

'Good. I'm very sorry for what happened to you, but I have to discharge you two, if you are able to walk home?'

'Yeah, yeah, we'll be fine.'

'And sorry about your friend, Shadow.' referring to Boris who was confirmed dead. Shadow could only express misery as he looked down.

'Thank you.'

'Take your time, okay?' said the azumarill. 'And when you leave, let the nurse behind the counter know, okay?'

The houndoom winked and nodded, letting the nurse leave. For a moment Shadow rested his head on Glim's, sharing each other's sorrow and comfort. Thirty seconds later, the glaceon was breathing slower, escaping the fearsome gridlock of his experience that kept haunting him. Recognising his calm, Shadow could finally ask what he wanted of the little boy.

'Your name is 'Glim', right?' whispered the houndoom. Glim responded with a very slow nod and though Shadow could not see the nod, he could feel the glaceon's nod stroking against his very warm body. 'Did you say your name was 'Glacia' so I wouldn't find you?'

'No.' replied Glim, also whispering.

'No?'

'My friends, who want to end the revolution told me to use a different name so the Crimson or Republic could not find us.'

'I knew it.' The houndoom nodded in agreement. The glaceon looked up at him with a face of concern. 'I knew you gave me a false name, but I wanted to know why. I was afraid that you were afraid of me.'

'W-well, I sort of was.' stuttered Glim. 'I didn't think another boy would approach me like that, yet you were so nice to me. And when you and your friend saved me, I-I didn't know what to do. I felt I had to give you what you wanted, even though I was… dressed up. But, I've never kissed another boy before, I was so scared.'

'I'm sorry sweetie.'

'No, it's alright!' interrupted the glaceon, giving his houndoom eye contact.

'I shouldn't have pushed you.'

'You didn't, I pushed myself.'

'Because of me. I got clingy and sad when you were leaving.'

'I would have done the same, if I ever saved someone I loved.' whispered Glim.

'Then I guess that makes us both suckers.'

Only noticing how close their muzzles were, Shadow gave the glaceon a little kiss and then they cuddled.

Suddenly a loud garbodor zoomed into the waiting area, seeming desperate. Just hearing the junky rustling of his body made the two boys sit straight and glance past the counter, where Ben stormed in.

'There you are Glim!' choked the garbodor, almost tripping over by stopping too fast. 'We've got a problem, Jane's gone missing!'

'What?'

'She wasn't at the hotel or anywhere in sight from the north gate. I went over there myself, she's just gone.'

'Did you actually go where she was going?'

'I didn't go near it, but from the hill I couldn't see her at all.'

'Who is this?' asked Shadow.

'Jane's a friend of ours, an infernape. She told us to wait for her at the hotel, but she should have been back over an hour ago. She was going to investigate that little dock just north of Iris. See if there was a way to get to Lilac.'

'You mean the Iris Berth? That area has been forbidden to enter for weeks now. Pokémon are said to disappear from there.'

Ben and Glim gave each other a frozen stare, expressing concern.

'Any idea where they go, or who takes'em?' asked Ben.

The houndoom shook his head.

'Sorry.'

'Well I'm going over there anyway. If I'm abducted, they'll take me to her. Are you coming?'

The little glaceon paused, suspecting the terrible danger that could be waiting at the berth. Remembering that Jane, a formidable infernape was a very tough woman and by far the highest level of her team. For one pokémon to have captured or even killed her would have taken a masterful amount of skill. Glim wanted to say yes, he did not want to lose another close friend like Jane if she was in danger, but was having trouble fighting his trauma again. The houndoom caressing him sensed the fear.

'Could you give us a moment?' Shadow asks.

'Okay.' replied the garbodor, turning to leave.

'I'm sorry Glim. I know you've been through a lot today, but your friend is probably dead already.' Shadow whispered.

The glaceon closed his eyes and sighed sadly and when he looked down, he shook his head, summoning what courage he had left out of stubbornness.

'I don't care, I want to find Jane anyway. She would do the same for me. It was her and Oswald who…' Glim paused. 'I won't believe she's dead until I see her myself.'

The little glaceon, resisting tears broke from Shadow's embrace and calmly walked a few steps away. He then stopped, wondering what he should say to the houndoom before he left. Glim thought about saying goodbye or to wish him luck, some romantic cliché or something that would assure Shadow to not worry about him.

'So you're going?' asked the houndoom.

'I'm sorry Shadow, but-'

'Then I'm coming with you.' Shadow boldly interrupted, making the little glaceon fire a worrying glance at him.

The houndoom left his seat, pulling a brave expression that showed fearlessness in his eyes. Glim turned round looking up at Shadow, accidentally beaming his own charm from his eyes.

'I'm not going to lie to you sweet. I don't care of the result of this "revolution". I don't care who's fault it is, or what caused the "human genocide".' Shadow said, approaching little Glim and bringing his head over his. Getting that adorable, innocent and sweet stare from those radiantly pretty glaceon eyes he loved so much. 'It's you, I will die for.'

'You don't have to do that.' whispered Glim.

'You don't have to die for your friend either. But like you, I don't care, I want to go anyway.'

The much bigger houndoom smiled, enjoying the sight of those eyes so deeply. He raised his paw and lightly squeezed the so smooth, but freezing cheek of the little glaceon, who also smiled.

'Thank you.'

* * *

It was only an hour and thirty nine minutes, since the attacks around the Coronet, by which time, Iris had become clouded in fog. It was not that thick, but what was left of the pretty daylight that morning was just a glint in the distance. It seemed that Crio was back to its usual dismal weather.

Outside the medical centre, Ben was pacing, impatient to leave and find Jane. Nearby at the bottom of the hill were two golduck and a marshtomp arguing that Iris Town had gone to hell and that they all needed to get out of Crio, before they are either forced to join the war or lose their families. The older golduck was insisting on staying, defending Crio for what it stood for when he was born. Eavesdropping on the argument made the garbodor feel a little less hope, until the doors of the medical centre opened, followed by a glaceon and houndoom couple leaving.

'Glim!' blurted Ben happily. 'So you're coming?'

The little glaceon gave a determined nod and then looked up at Shadow.

'Both of us.' answered the houndoom.

'You too, are you sure?'

'It's Ben isn't it?'

'That's me.'

'Well, first you have my thanks for saving my ass up there-'

'Oh mate, we're in revolution.'

'And that was my next thing, I'm not joining. I'm only going where he goes.' said Shadow, lightly nudging the little glaceon next to him.

'Shadow that's okay.' Ben grinned. 'We're not really joining either side of the revolution either. We just want it to end.'

'Even if we have to kill another for it.' Glim interjected. 'One leader of one side, is still just one Pokémon, right?'

'Yeah, of course.' answered the houndoom. 'But what about your friend?'

'You mean Jane?' asked Ben. 'Well, she theorised that the CR's leader is a roserade and is only over there.' he said, pointing at the foggy silhouette of the nearby island.

'On Lilac?' asked Shadow, somewhat surprised.

'Yeah. If Jane has been taken to the island, I'm sure she'll be already kicking ass in trying to burn the island down. So I say we get over there and help her, before she gets herself killed.'

The little glaceon nods.

* * *

The three friends hurried out of the north exit of Iris, which then becomes a steep hill down to a little wood that surrounds the berth they were heading to. Being a houndoom, Shadow was naturally much faster than the little glaceon and the big bag of rubbish. However, whilst Ben was eager to get to the berth, Shadow remained running alongside Glim, guarding him with his life.

'Shadow?' called Glim.

'Yes love?'

'You seemed surprised about the CR leader being on Lilac theory…'

'It just sounded odd to me. If the leader was on Lilac, how have the Republic not dragon raided it yet? They already claimed they know where the leader is.'

'That's true.' the glaceon murmured.

The 'Dragon Raid' that Shadow mentioned was a military attack strategy, whenever enemy territory was to be occupied or attacked the Dragon Raid would demolish the helpless location from above, thus allowing grounded pokémon to approach. Though it is called the Dragon Raid, the swarm would include all kinds of flying type pokémon. Dragons were often the brute force of a Dragon Raid, which earned them to take the title. Bird pokémon were often the speedy, manoeuvring experts if any ground approach was needed, while bug pokémon had the wide range of senses to know what to attack, which meant that they always took the front of the formation. Due to its very dangerous success rate, the Republic have resorted to using the Dragon Raid more frantically and frequently. The citizens of Crio would sicken of the attacks as 'cowardly and uncaring' given that the attacks always take lives of the innocent. The latest city to be hit by the Dragon Raid strategy was Gerbera City, which was where Jane, Ben and Oswald were evacuating from, rescuing Glim during the attack.

Slowing down to recover energy, the Iris Berth was only minutes away. Creeping past through foliage, the lone dock seemed desolate and empty. It was silent and run down, taken over by algae and moss. What was left of the dock was torn wood and rust, all of which made the multiple warning signs on the downhill look redundant. The boards looked like that no one ever came to the berth in years.

'Is it possible that Jane might have gone back to Iris and just got held up?' asked Glim.

'Not for that long. She doesn't joke anymore.' answered Ben.

The small path they took led the three on the opposite side of the Berth, which had two boarded up sheds, while on the other side were two houses and some sort of barn. The structures were also soulless it seemed, even with the windows visible, what Glim could see of the rooms from the outside appeared a dull white and empty. If the berth was to be a painting, the houses would look like that the artist just accidentally dripped two white blobs of paint on a pretty country dock.

Ben without any caution ran across the path, to cross over the canal, keen to inspect the barn and then the houses to find Jane. The little glaceon looked down at the river, where the small boats would stop to let off passengers. Since the sky had gotten a lot darker, all he could see was the same sage green as the moss the covered the berth. Nature had taken over the area it seemed, not only because of the moss, but several vines infesting on the rocks and the ground clearly having shifted frequently. Along with the vegetation, flowers, mostly white with the exception of few red flowers, peeking from the moss in obscure parts.

'Usually, it is quite easy to spot Jane,' said Glim. 'Wherever she is.'

'If the rumours are true, she might already be over there.' replied the houndoom, looking at the north Point of Lilac Island, being the closest part to the main land of Crio. 'I don't see how the CR could execute an abduction so cleanly and quietly though, do you see any traps or something?'

'No, but something smells…' Glim paused. 'kind of sweet.'

'Really? Well, it's difficult for fire types to smell anything.'

Constantly breathing out hot air can sometimes make scents and smells difficult for fire type pokémon to smell.

Next to the houses, the large garbodor was already peering at the morbid windows. He already figured that the infernape he was looking for was nowhere to be seen, but like Glim, Ben was determined to find her. The little glaceon meanwhile was in tension, as Shadow moved further ahead, Glim could not help shake the feeling of being watched.

The houndoom lightly pushed open the door of the bigger shed, which was not so boarded up, unlike the smaller one next to it. The shed appeared to be a refugee and that pokémon had lived in it once. Judging by the crayon pictures on the walls, there were children who had lived there. Shadow slowly entered, hyper vigilant, on the lookout for traps or an ambush, whilst magnetised by his curiosity. His sweet glaceon friend followed him in shortly.

All over the walls, were cute pictures of a small four legged pokémon making wishes to someone named 'Jirachi' and just next to those pictures were many more of the little brown pokémon running away from scary monsters. In most of the pictures, the same pokémon depicted is crying or running, with hurtful messages coloured red in the backgrounds. One picture has a monster standing still, in the doorway of a house yelling 'BABY! BABY! BABY!' Some of the pictures depicted the little sad pokémon with a knife and blood in front of it. One that stood out, was of one where it is surrounded by seven unusual figures, all coloured differently, one blue, one yellow, one pink, one beige, one red and one cream. The figure standing in front of the reoccurring drawn pokémon, was white, but outlined in the shape of a human. That picture stood out, because unlike all the others, the little pokémon had a smiley face.

'There's nothing quieter than an abandoned house, is there?' said Shadow depressively, gazing at the pictures.

Glim remained quiet, more interested to what was under the work table, which had several broken toys. One of them was a purple music box, with hearts and star patterns which looked in good condition.

'Who the hell is "Jirachi"?' asked Shadow. 'That doesn't sound like a Crioland name.'

The glaceon shook his head, even though Shadow could not see him. The houndoom was done looking at the pictures, only representing sadness and fear. He turned giving Glim eye contact who was not liking the refuge either, but then something caught his eye through the window. On the other side of the canal, Shadow could see Ben faced down on the floor, in front of the houses.

'Oh my god, Ben!' cried Shadow.

Immediately Glim rushed out with the houndoom just behind him, where they could see the garbodor just slumped on his front and motionless. Strangely when the little glaceon ran out, the air felt a lot thicker somehow, like he ran through wind blowing at him, despite the sea breeze was so low. Shadow meanwhile appeared oblivious to the air thickness and bolted over to the bridge. The glaceon desperate to help his friend attempted to follow Shadow, but as soon as he took one step in his pursuit, all his legs were suddenly powerless, his vision slowed and he was helpless to stop himself from flopping onto his side. Breathing deeply, Glim felt like he had his energy completely drained and was unable to move or shout, though he could see the houndoom running on the other side.

'Ben are you-' called Shadow, only noticing his little glaceon had also fallen over. 'Shit! Glim!'

The little glaceon could not see Shadow when the houndoom called out his name. All he could do was struggle weakly, trying to move his body and call for help. Glim had enough energy to move his paws and stutter words, but was far too weak and dizzy to move his whole body. He could hear the swift treading of the big dog pokémon, rushing over to the bridge, but also faint rustling nearby.

'Wha-' stuttered Shadow. Immediately blasting a beam of fire which Glim clearly saw right above him as it strode left, out of his sight. The Flamethrower was huge, despite being quite high up. The glaceon could hear the feminine screams of three pokémon running away, one of which jumped into the water, judging by the loud splash. 'Get away from him!' roared the fearsome houndoom, stopping in front of Glim and shifting round to protect the defenceless glaceon.

Glim swung his paws left, trying everything to get up, only to roll to his left slightly. He managed to spot a red flower that was crawling down from the house and getting much bigger.

'S-shadow…' wheezed Glim.

From the point of view of the glaceon, the houndoom remained looking left, continuing his raging flames at what Glim was not seeing. Shadow kept blasting fire until he looked ahead of him, which he then stopped and turned back to the downed glaceon with a face of reassurance.

'Glim! Let's-'

Suddenly, out from the water multiple huge grey tentacles boomed out, towering the dock and just as quickly struck the houndoom who seemed so small to them. Shadow was swiftly snatched off the path and pulled into the water, out of Glim's sight.

'Shadow!' squeaked the helpless glaceon, stretching out his paw, as if he had any chance in saving the houndoom.

With no power to hold him up, Glim slammed back, facing up again, this time his head was caught by a vileplume, whose face was just behind his. The little glaceon panicked, waving his paws ahead of him.

'Sh…' whispered the vileplume, stroking to calm her prey. 'Don't fight it, sweetheart. Or else you will have nightmares.'

The vileplume cushioned Glim's head within her arms while his sight disorientated further and got blacker. The last thing he saw were two more vileplume approaching with graceful smiles, his eyes then slowly closed.

* * *

'I remember that place. The berth.' said a voice, of what sounded like a young female, speaking in a mourning tone.

'Who are you?' calmly asked Glim.

For a moment, the other voice paused, before changing the subject.

'You are lucky it was not victreebel putting you to sleep. They have a rather horrifying way to dispose of bodies.'

'I'm not going to be eaten am I?'

'No. But the fate of your friends is closer to that predicament.'

Glim paused.

'What's a "predicament"?'

The voice whom he was speaking to lightly chuckled.

'You will find out when you wake up, sweet. But you need to know, their lives will depend on you and however you defeat Prince Snowdrop.'

'Prince Snowdrop?'

'He is the roserade you were hearing about. Your incredible friends will manage to persuade him to let you go. Unless you want to lose all your friends, you must bond with him. Snowdrop is much like you Glim.'

'I will try my best.' replied the glaceon. 'Wait, how did you know my name? …Hello?'

* * *

'He's got nothing to do with this!' shouted a familiar aggressive female voice. 'Just an idiot glaceon who followed us, thinking we were home to him.'

Glim's eyes slowly squinted open, though very blurry and dizzy. The first thing he could see were his hind legs, dangling downward over a space of blackness. Looking to his right, he could see the figures of Ben and Jane, lined up next to him, also dangling in the air.

'Yeah, if any of us deserve to live, it's him.' argued Ben, looking at Glim with a sad expression. 'Glim is innocent…'

Those were the last words heard by the 'innocent' glaceon, before his head dropped downward, passing out a second time. The next noises that became audible for Glim were the sounds of high pitched chatter, with giggling in the background.

'Sh- sh! He's waking up.' said a bellossom, who come into sight as Glim slowly opened his eyes. 'Wakey-wakey.' she chanted happily.

The glaceon gasped, finding himself waking up on a more comfortable mattress, used for hospital patients. In fact, it was a medical centre were Glim appeared to have woken up. He forcibly sat up, immediately getting calmly held by the pokémon watching over him. Along with the bellossom was a nidorina, an umbreon and a bayleef. The bellossom and nidorina reassured the little glaceon.

'Whoa, easy, easy cutie.' said the bellossom.

'Where are they? Where are my friends? Where am I?'

'Now slow down.' said the umbreon, placing her paw over Glim's cheek and tilting his head to meet her serious, but calming blood red eyes. 'You're in Symphonia Hospital right now. You were lucky enough for our leader didn't dice you for today's POW meat. As for your friends-'

'Yvonne…' interjected the bayleef, who then shook her head when the umbreon met her eyes.

'We'll let you speak to the democrats. They told us to take you over to them once you had woken up.' continued Yvonne.

'So where are my friends?' asked the glaceon.

'They're still being held prisoners… but that is the least of their worries right now.'

Glim stared at the umbreon for a moment, he then sat up when the girls moved back, allowing him space to crawl off the bed. Even though he was still a prisoner, he was not pawcuffed and had a lot more energy than he did when he fell at the Iris Berth. The bayleef was the first to leave, opening the cubical curtain, revealing a large drapion just behind it. Just seeing him made Glim freeze in place, suddenly seeing the fight between Oswald and the Killer of Kindness in his face. Even the bayleef flinched, unaware that he was there.

The drapion spoke, making the bayleef jump. 'Is the-'

'Sorry, I didn't know you were standing there!' she chuckled.

'Is the glaceon ready?' asked the drapion, not joking around.

'He's coming Garrus.' said Yvonne, who then lightly nudged Glim, who remained frozen solid. 'Hey, you okay?' she whispered, snapping the glaceon out of his trance.

'Follow me, I'll take you to the shrine.' said Garrus.

Glim nodded and then proceeded to leave the cubical, following the large drapion. His every movement sparked fear into the little glaceon. Seeing the long tail rise, the tiny spikey feet crawling so quickly. Somehow, it all just seemed so terrifying for him.

The hospital was much bigger than the medical centre back in Iris Town, but it was rather quiet compared to the average hospital. That changed when the escort left the hospital, where Glim realised he was in an underground community. Knowing how big Lilac Island was, it was possible to house more than a town if the caves kept going. Symphonia was a huge cave town that was connected to Lilac Town, being the only town on the island. At least that was all that was known of Lilac Island by the citizens of Crio. There was a long line of enormous supporting pillars, keeping the whole cave roof from crashing onto the town, while the residents had made refuge in pokémon made buildings, the hospital being one of them.

The group did not travel far, though Glim got a long enough look to how populated Symphonia was. It was mostly made up of poison type pokémon, but there were a lot of dark types and the occasional grass types and pokémon who were clearly also let off by the leaders. Garrus was leading Glim and the girls up a path, just west of the hospital. Until the drapion turned right, facing a huge public tunnel that was a quarter mile of stone stairs. Seeing it and having to look up made Glim groan in surprise and despair. Though he was embarrassed, the girls and even Garrus nodded in agreement.

'The fucking Route 9 ledge of Symphonia, is these stairs.' said the drapion, already climbing it.

The girls giggled, with the nidorina patting Glim in empathy.

'It's strange we had the money and resources to build a small town, but no elevator?' complained the bellossom.

The tunnel was at a perfect thirty degree angle and was big enough for crowds of pokémon to storm through, of course no one else was using it at the time. The tunnel also revealed to Glim that it was no longer day, as he could see the sky at the other end, being a dark azure blue and cloudy as always. When the group left the tunnel, the sky was exactly the same. The sun had already set and it was the usual gloom. When the glaceon left the tunnel, all that was ahead of him was a long path turning left and the icy azure sea, stretching all across the horizon. Unwilling to anger the drapion, Glim continued to follow and just over a slope was a large structure with a completely glass roof. Oddly despite the size of the structure, it had no walls and just eight supports holding it up, having no privacy at all.

At the shrine, multiple pokémon from the town had gathered, surrounding the shrine except for the north side of it, which was being treated as the entrance. Glim could see why, as that was the direction the democrats and the leader himself were facing. The little glaceon did not acknowledge what species the democrats were and was more focused on the leader, sitting in a strangely seductive position in a tall chair. As heard and told, the leader was a roserade and knew him as Prince Snowdrop. The small crowd of locals quickly became silent when Garrus entered, with the glaceon tailing him. The girls meanwhile did not move any further than the north side of the shrine. Inside the shrine, Garrus stopped and turned to face Glim.

'Your examination begins here.' he said looking down at the cute fearful glaceon.

The drapion left him standing in place and stood in front of the crowd behind Glim, whose focus was now at the long white clothed table on the other side of the room. Behind the table were the democrats, a gengar, a swalot, a toxicroak, an ivysaur and then Prince Snowdrop the roserade, who captured the gaze of the little glaceon again.

'Court is now in session.' called the toxicroak. 'Please state your name, species and position in the revolution.'

'Mh- my name is Glim,' he stuttered. 'I'm a glaceon... and a civilian.'

The democrats, except for the prince were rapidly writing down notes as Glim spoke.

'Dear boy, please speak up when speaking in this court.' said the Ivysaur.

'S-sorry.'

Being in that position, with all those pokémon staring at him was more terrifying than Glim might have imagined. Most of them had the menacing expression that they wanted to eat him and being so small and alone where he stood, the little glaceon was seriously unnerved and uncomfortable.

'Glim,' called the most dauntingly beautiful roserade. 'Your friends claimed that you had nothing to do with the revolution, which they were campaigning to finish the revolution by assassinating me. Do you confirm this statement?'

'No your majesty.' said Glim and immediately the surrounding crowd either laughed, shook their heads, awed or giggled in his cute mistake. As if he was not unnerved already, the coy glaceon ducked down more, now embarrassed. Even Prince Snowdrop smiled at the remark.

'Order, order!' shouted the toxicroak, hitting the desk.

'Your sweet,' said the roserade, shaking his head. 'Though I'm not an actual prince, that's just my nickname. But you can call me that if you want.' he said winking.

'Oh- sorry. U-um.' stuttered Glim, completely forgetting what the prince had asked him.

'Please explain why, you disagree with what your friends told us.' said the ivysaur.

'Oh! Well because… I wanted the revolution to end too.'

The swalot looked over at the toxicroak and ivysaur, who all shared the same look of seriousness and minor confusion.

'Don't we all?' replied Snowdrop.

'And what child,' said the ivysaur. 'Did you hope to achieve with assassinating Prince Snowdrop?'

'Well… one of us thought that the leader of the Crimson Revolution was here on Lilac.'

'Which one?' demanded Snowdrop, quickly leaning forward, giving Glim a chilling stare.

All his beauty transformed into horrific intimidation, darkening his eyes that were hungry for blood and filled with rage. The sight made the glaceon cower with his tail and ears erecting and twitching. He would have wet himself had Glim had drank anything earlier. Aware that the little glaceon was fragile and frightened, the toxicroak stood and placed his claw over Snowdrop's shoulder.

'Snow, you're scaring him.' he quickly whispered.

Quickly snapping out of his nerve, the roserade nodded to reassure the toxicroak, who sat back down.

'I'm sorry Glim.' said Snowdrop. 'Please tell the court who it was who led you here, with that objective.'

The little glaceon said nothing, just pausing awkwardly and trying to think.

'Excuse me son,' said the disgruntled ivysaur. 'You were asked a question. Answer it.'

'I-I don't remember!' cried Glim, already knowing the court would not believe him.

'Sir,' said the sassy gengar, facing her leader. 'The glaceon is scared that if he reveals whose idea it was to invade our haven. You would kill them.'

'And I would.' said the roserade. 'Not that it matters anyway, your friends have been barking up the wrong tree.'

'What?' squeaked Glim.

'We do not have anything to do with the Crimson, at least, not anymore. Because like you Glim, we too are civilians who are trying to survive the revolution and what the Republic are doing to us!'

'So, y-you're not the leader of the CR?'

'Were you not listen? No!' shouted the ivysaur.

The prince held out his left bouquet, telling the ivysaur to settle down.

'The leader,' continued Snowdrop. 'Is a veteran bisharp named Commander Rancour. A true war hero in Crio's military history.'

'Commander Rancour?' repeated Glim.

'Yes, and if he was here on Lilac, the Republic would have unleashed a bit more than just their cowardly Dragon Raid. Something I, can deal with.'

'Oh… we didn't know. All we heard about the island was the secrecy and that it was dangerous.'

'That seems to be all that the Republic are hearing too, except they already know that the real fight of the revolution is in Haine. You know, the capital that has been out of civilian boundary since it started?'

'We thought of that, but um…'

'It's alright Glim, we forgive you.' said the gengar. 'You were just misled.'

'Which excuses you.' interjected the roserade. 'However, your friends, will not be leaving.'

'W-what?' cried Glim.

'Your friends, I am assuming to be, the infernape, garbodor and houndoom, correct?'

'Yes.'

'Well… one of them had the intention of assassinating me regardless, and that houndoom almost killed many of our personnel. Including the very tentacruel who captured him, ending up with severe head trauma.'

'We didn't know you weren't the leader! A-and Shadow was trying to save me. Your people ambushed us!'

'Order!' demanded the ivysaur.

'That is a fair argument, little glaceon.' said the swalot. 'But your friends are clearly warriors of the revolution, whereas you… are just a sweet pacifist who plays dress up.' he said, finishing his statement with a smile and making the prince and gengar next to him chuckle. The glaceon was confused by the statement, but concerned by what the swalot meant.

'Uh, I-I'm sorry?' asked Glim.

'We're not supposed to change the topic,' said Snowdrop. 'But I personally would like to know. Do you… have feminine feelings Glim? The desire to wear clothing designed for females?'

'Your- your majesty?'

'Yes,' interjected the ivysaur. 'What is the meaning of this?'

'Well…' said the roserade, reaching for something behind the desk. 'When your friends were brought here, we confiscated something from your garbodor friend.'

The little glaceon realised what Snowdrop and the swalot were talking about, which became true to him when the prince gracefully held the folded maid dress, with its bonnets and stockings, tucked in with it. Pokémon amongst the crowd started chuckling, muttering or giggling as Glim froze in another roller coaster of emotions. Keen to defend his innocence.

'That- that's not mine!' argued Glim, making the crowd suddenly roar in laughter. Like before, the little glaceon cowered down, that time in embarrassment, causing him to blush and captivate the roserade.

'Between you and your friends, Glim. You are the only four legged specie small enough for this outfit.'

'But that doesn't mean it's mine!'

'Except!' objected the gengar. 'And I'm sorry Glim. But I happened to see you, in Lopunny Cove last night, in that dress.'

The gengar, along with many of the crowd chuckled once again. Glim did not recognise that the ghost pokémon was the same gengar who he attempted to approach last night. The revelation made the pretty glaceon's eyes shorten in further embarrassment, unable to argue back, since he was already recognised.

'So, go on…' said Snowdrop. 'Put it on.'

The crowd then cheered, while the toxicroak and ivysaur were shaking their heads. Glim himself was not exactly following the flow either.

'What?'

'Exactly what I said. Put it on.'

'I'm sorry,' interrupted the toxicroak. 'This is-'

'Overruled!' Snowdrop interrupted back, making pokémon laugh. 'Put it on, Glim. You know you want to.'

'I don't want to!' complained the glaceon, stomping his little paws.

'Bailiff, please use this to dress up the defendant.'

Immediately, the crowds roared in laughter again as the nidoking approached the prince with and embarrassing smile. Calmly taking the undamaged dress he turned, shaking his head, resisting to chuckle and approached Glim, who just stood looking away, shivering at the sounds of the laughter.

'I'm so sorry about this.' chuckled the young nidoking.

Little Glim decided to make it quick and slipped himself into the dress, with the awkward help of the surprisingly careful man, who as he was tightening the corset looked back up the democrats.

'Listen, if she finds out, could you explain this to my wife?'

The crowd laughed again, while the gengar, toxicroak and ivysaur nodded, either reassuring the nidoking or just sympathetic for the little glaceon. When Glim's stockings were pulled up, the bailiff left, patting his bottom before returning to his position while the glaceon was tying his bonnet, utterly mortified. The crowds were either resisting their laughter or awing at Glim's mega uncomfortable frustration, burning pink as he just sat, looking away.

'Feeling better?' asked Snowdrop in a seductive tone.

'I feel like head-butting a fucking bomb!' cried Glim.

'Language, boy!' shouted the ivysaur, as Prince Snowdrop and the gengar laughed loudly. 'However, I must also protest. Can we please finish the court, sir?' he asked, trying to not sound angry to his leader.

'Most certainly.' replied Snowdrop. 'Glim. You will have to let go of your friends, as their guilt was already determined by their objectives. Though that objective was yours too, you are forgivable, for realising the truth that we were certainly not who you thought we were. Even if you did manage to invade our island, you are clearly no threat to us, as the infernape stated you "hopelessly naïve". You are a lost revolution survivor, who got close to some troublesome friends and would give anything for it all to end. It is people like you who deserve their lives. Therefore, this court declares Glim the glaceon our latest member to the Symphonia community.'

With no objections from the other democrats, they all nodded with the crowds applauding, clapping using their various limbs. Glim looked around, noticing that everyone seemed very happy for him to have become part their society. Even the prince himself seemed secretly endearing of the little glaceon. Glim meanwhile, did not know what to think. He was so muddled by emotions he could not think straight, though he did remember what Jane had apparently said about him, which kind of hurt him. Even so, he was still determined to save his friends who managed to save him. Glim had managed to earn the trust of Symphonia and it was his turn to save his friends.

'Court is now adjourned!' called the toxicroak as soon as the crowd had quiet down.

The large majority of pokémon present at the court left for the nearby tunnel down to Symphonia, with Glim shortly behind them, desperate for space after his latest ordeal. Despite his subtle leave, the girls who had escorted him were already waiting for him. The nidorina beat the bellossom to hugging the little glaceon first, which actually helped to make him feel better.

'Congratulations on your verdict.' she said, releasing her embrace.

'Yeah! You're lucky the leader likes you.' said the bellossom.

'Tha- thank you.' mumbled Glim.

The group then paused, awkwardly staring at the little glaceon still in his maid dress, who appeared embarrassed out of his mind. Yvonne stuttered and tried to change the subject to relieve poor Glim.

'Glim…' she said smiling. 'Would you like us to help you out of that dress?'

'Please.' interrupted the distraught glaceon, nodding.

Quickly and carefully, Yvonne, the bellossom, nidorina and bayleef removed the garments which were rather tight, due to the nidoking's strength and inexperience to dressing pokémon in such clothing. Glim would not have cared if the girls tore the dress off him. The bonnet however was taking a little longer since the glaceon had made it incredibly tight out of frustration.

'I am so sorry that happened to you sweetheart. That must have been agony, having all those people laughing at you like that.'

The other girls were sadly nodding or patting Glim, while the nidorina was managing to loosen up the bonnet. While she did, they all heard rather loud growling noise from the glaceon's belly. The bayleef giggled.

'You hungry?' asked the umbreon, smiling.

Thinking about it, Glim realised he had not eaten since that morning, before everything during his long day had happened. From learning Signal Beam, fighting Father Charles, surviving Martyr and the abduction to Lilac Island.

'I-I haven't eaten since this morning.' he replied, making the girls gasp. 'Well, I've had a very long, crazy bad day today. I just forgot about eating.'

'Don't worry,' reassured the nidorina. 'Let us take you to the Symphonia Gourmet! It's all free of charge, due to the revolution and all.'

'Count me in.' said Garrus, appearing behind the little glaceon.

Glim looked back at the huge drapion, for some reason no longer scared of him.

'Let off early Garrus?' asked the bayleef.

'Yeah.'

'Well, let's go.' said Yvonne. 'Glimmy hasn't eaten for almost a day.'

The umbreon proceeded, entering the tunnel followed by her friends.

'Speaking of that,' said the glaceon. 'What time is it? I don't know how long I was out.'

'Way passed my bedtime,' blurted the bellossom. 'Five until midnight.'

'You're not the only one missing out sleep, Clara.' said Garrus, crawling alongside the much smaller pokémon. 'Damn it, Cyrus and I started like bloody 5am this morning.'

Cyrus was the bailiff nidoking who had to dress up Glim, also the father of Marleen the nidorina walking just next to the glaceon.

'Oh so that's why dad wasn't around this morning.' said the nidorina.

'Didn't your mother tell you?'

'…I don't live with my mother anymore.' replied Marleen, not even looking at Garrus.

'Oh sorry.'

* * *

From leaving the tunnel back into the main plaza of Symphonia, it was only a brief five minute walk to reach the Gourmet, which like the hospital was a massive structure, built into the environment around it. Inside, it looked like two levels of a college cafeteria. The floor above was more or less an elegantly designed balcony stretching over most of the ground floor. The upper floor however was for those who still had money left from the revolution, whereas the majority of pokémon who had nothing took up the main floor. Due to the level of busyness that building could get, even at midnight, the food and drink offerings had to be on opposite sides of the room.

'I have a berry farm shift starting in an hour,' said the bayleef. 'So I'll be getting the chesto teas, anybody else?'

'Yeah, I'll have tea thanks.' said Yvonne.

'I'm coming with you,' said Clara, approaching the bayleef. 'Garrus, Mayleen and I need deep sleep for tomorrow. What would you like Glim?'

Having fallen asleep for at least six hours during his abduction, the little glaceon was certainly not tired. Having the pressure and need to save his friends, contributed to Glim being keen to stay up.

'I'll have tea as well, thank you.'

'What do you girls want?' asked the umbreon.

'I'm not hungry, thank you.' replied the bellossom.

'Can you get me the "tropic puff mix" Y?'

'Okay.' replied Yvonne. 'We'll find you.'

Splitting into two groups, the little glaceon tagged with Yvonne, Garrus and Mayleen, individually getting their own tray, except for the drapion who had the arms to carry both trays of his and Meg the bayleef's order. The umbreon went first, hinting Glim of what is what. Both being eeveelutions, they both liked similar kinds of food given they are omnivores, due to the unique adaptability of the eeveelutions. Being a glaceon however, Glim would much prefer cold food, settling him with the 'rawst salad' and mint ice cream.

While the glaceon was given his order, the drapion who was just behind him leaned down to him.

'Hey Glim,' whispered Garrus. 'That was ballsy what you did up there mate.'

Glim looked up at him, a little curious, Yvonne also noticed them talking to her right.

'Huh?'

'You were honest to the prince and all, but admitting your responsibility and arguing for your friends release could have gotten you killed.'

'It didn't matter, they already decided I was innocent.'

'True, but our leader… well.' murmured the drapion, using his tail to poke at the top of his head. 'He's not exactly in one piece up here.'

'What I can't understand is why he won't let my friends go. I mean, it was his members who attacked us and we were defending ourselves.'

'We can show you why…' interjected Yvonne. 'Come and look at this.'

Sliding their trays ahead, the glaceon noticed the other side of the food offerings to be crowded and queued up. With lots of big poison and dark pokémon itching for what was over there. The offering table was quite high, Glim, Yvonne and Mayleen had to stand on their hinds to claim their orders. Glim could not see at all with all the hungry eager pokémon queued around it.

'I-I can't see.'

'Here,' said Garrus, subtly sliding his claws under Glim's torso and picking him up. At first the glaceon squeaked like a little fennekin, still afraid of drapion. However, Garrus held him up high to see what was at the end. 'Do you see it?'

What would be four whole slots of separate kinds of food, was all one long tray of what was unmistakably diced meat in multiple shades of red. Steaming hot, burning an enchanting aroma that even Glim found provoking. Judging by the concerned expressions of his friends however, he too became a little fearful.

'What is that?' whispered Glim, looking down to Garrus who lowered the glaceon between his spiky shoulders.

'Remember what I said about the prince? Well, there's a reason why Rancour broke connections with him during the war. What you just saw, we call that "POW meat".'

'POW meat? What is it?'

'…Do- do you know what the P-O-W stands for?' asked Garrus with concern, while Glim remained with an unsure stare.

'It stands for "prisoners of war" Glim,' answered Yvonne, looking up at Glim in a sad expression. 'And that is what will happen to your friends if you don't save them.'

The glaceon silently gasped, glancing back at the tray of meat, that so many were finding lustrous.

* * *

Meg and Clara were already sat at an empty table near the entrance, having set up the three sets of chesto tea, a kind used to relieve tiredness with the use of chesto berries. The bellossom had brought over three 'spore cocktails', for herself, Garrus and Mayleen, a bitter drink that promises a very easy sleep when comfortable enough.

The others arrived with their orders, just as calmly as they seemed, even though Glim was shaken out about knowing what POW meat was. Even so it failed to put the little glaceon off his food as he was starving. Most of the girls began chatting while Glim neatly scarfed his salad and ice cream in the most awkwardly desperate manner. The umbreon, just opposite him noticed how insanely uncomfortable the glaceon looked. His face resembled being frozen in fear and a deep sense of thought, yet he was eating in a mature manner and somehow resisting to go full on houndour and chomp the whole table. Yvonne sort of regretted telling him about the meat so early. She was about to say something, but Garrus raised his claw, shaking his head.

'He's heard enough.'

'I was going to change the subject.' she said. 'S-so Glim. Eeveelution to eeveelution. Can I ask what made you choose to become a glaceon?'

Stories of what eevee choose to evolve into is a common interest story for many pokémon, and as usual it gained the attention of Mayleen, Meg and Clara. Glim however changed his bizarre expression into a sad one. Not even answering, he blew at his tea, freezing it up and leaned back, looking much more relaxed. He held his teacup just looking down at his reflection.

'It's complicated.' Glim whispered.

Yvonne nodded, agreeing having experience of her own, but she felt inclined to disagree.

'Did you not want to become a glaceon?'

'It's complicated.' Glim repeated and suddenly the umbreon noticed that he did not want to talk about that. 'But that does relate to why I am here.'

'How so?'

Glim looked at Garrus just next to him who was also interested.

'Did you know a drapion who called himself the Killer of Kindess?'

'You mean Darrel?' replied Garrus, surprised with a hint of disgust. 'Yeah, I went to school with that dick head.'

'Well… he murdered a close friend of mine, in front of me. Who was also the husband of one my friends. That drapion had such a scary look and big eyes, he stabbed Oswald while he was comforting me. I was still just an eevee when that happened over a week ago.'

'That sounds like him.' whispered Garrus.

Respectably, Yvonne and Mayleen said nothing, keeping a sorry expression for the little glaceon.

'Which is why my friend's so pissed off. Though she says, that she wants to end the revolution, she really wants to avenge Oswald, by killing the CR's leader.'

'But the Killer of Kindness never got his place here. In fact, even Snowdrop wanted him dead. That asshole calls himself the "Killer of Kindness" because he believed that people wanted to die for… whatever he claimed them to be.'

'And my friends did not know any of that, remember?'

'Yeah,' said Yvonne. 'They didn't even know we weren't part of the Crimson Revolution.'

'Well, now that you do.' said Garrus. 'How are you going undo what has been done? How can you save your friends? Because, as much as we respect you Glim, we can't help you.'

The glaceon looked ahead contemplating and noticed Yvonne looking down into her tea with a look of aspiration, while Mayleen shared a similar look. Clara and Meg only seemed concerned, unable to disagree with the drapion's statement. Hearing that he was on his own once again did not seem to bother Glim though. He took one look back at the where at the crowd gathered around the POW meat and suddenly regained a feeling of determination.


	5. To kill, to save and sacrifice

Chapter 5  
'To kill, to save and sacrifice'

* * *

The little glaceon thanked his friends for the brief tour of Symphonia, but seeing as he was not going to be helped, he had to bid them farewell. When Glim left Symphonia Gourmet, he had two objectives in mind, to locate the prison or where his friends were being held and if confronting Prince Snowdrop himself would be possible. Both of his intentions made him nervous, but knowing what would happen to his friends was enough to propel his determination. Aimlessly looking left to right was only proving the little boy to be lost, all he could see were poorly built stores and houses, with no directions at all. Symphonia looked a lot like a slum, only very busy and successful judging by the positive expressions of the local pokémon, excluding the ones who would only snicker at Glim for his adorable performance in court earlier. Some of the residents seemed to like the little glaceon due to the level of humiliation he went to, however those pokémon would cat call Glim as if he was some sort of sex object.

'Glim, wait!' called Yvonne. Turning round, the glaceon spotted her running up to him. 'Let me show you where you can find your friends.'

'What? I thought you couldn't help me.'

Yvonne paused. 'You're not the only one who's wanted to rescue their friends.' she whispered.

Glim did not answer and just nodded.

Only minutes later, Yvonne was taking Glim up several storeys of stairs that seemed to be within a vertically dug cave. After climbing what seemed like two floors, the umbreon signalled for Glim to stop climbing as she approached a big metal door with all kinds of signs on it. There was the usual 'employees only' or 'stay out' but then the more ominous 'catering management' and 'to save, some must die.' Yvonne made one last look past Glim and above her in case anyone was coming.

'Glim, this is it.' said the umbreon. 'Beyond this door is where we keep the prisoners. It is strictly forbidden. I only have access to this level because my dad worked here before he was killed.' she said drawing out some kind of card and swiping it down a scanner, causing the door to sound a loud clanking noise. 'If Prince finds us here, one of us is likely to be killed.'

The little glaceon paused, seeming concerned for her. He did consider telling her to leave him as it was his mission to find his friends, but before he could ask, Yvonne walked ahead when the big door slowly opened.

Through the door and on the first right revealed a long corridor with very tall reinforced windows all along the left side of it. The windows is also where the light was coming from, strong neon teal cave lanterns were hung all along what seemed to be another tunnel, neighbouring the corridor that Glim was taken into. The corridor had a very ominous appearance, the very air had its own haunting groan echoing. It was clearly very cold looking at the steam coming from the windows, which may be comfortable for ice pokémon like Glim, but he knew every other type often find the cold hateful. There was also a horrid scent as well, that could only be described as several sweaty muk eating year's old rotted cheese and then crapping it out. As if the very presence of the corridor was not awful enough, Glim took a closer look through the barred window next to him. What he saw sent a ghostly chill down his spine and prodded his legs back slightly. Beneath the blue lights was a long row of weakly struggling pokémon, who were the prisoners. Glim gasped in fright, while Yvonne looked back, only noticing that she had moved ahead without him. She ran back to the little glaceon who just paused on the spot.

'Sh, keep your voice down.' whispered the umbreon.

'Are these the prisoners?'

'Yes, they are. Most of which captured from that pier you came from. Your friends were a garbodor, an infernape and houndoom, right?'

Glim nodded hurriedly.

'They're much further down the line.'

The umbreon escorted Glim near to the other side of the corridor, where there was another big door, only with no signs on it all. Over ten metres away from the opposite end, Yvonne pointed to her left. The little glaceon looked into the glass, afraid of what he was going to see. He could hear muttering from the other side of the glass, indicating that most of the prisoners were alive, unless they were asleep or dying. Through the glass, after wiping the vapour from it, Glim saw two individuals, an open space and then a four legged pokémon dangling over a chasm too dark to see. The glaceon barely recognised them, but he knew they were the friends who spared him. Glim placed his little paw over the window.

'Jane, Ben, Shadow?'

They did not hear Glim, as the panel vents for communication were closed. Yvonne pulled an old lever just in front of Glim to open the vents. Immediately, the dark infernape, with her scalp fire only burning dark orange glanced up. The freezing condition of that prison had severely weaken the lined pokémon hanging there, but Jane's little flame was enough for her to stay focused and insane, judging by her appearance.

'Jane?'

'Glim!' wheezed the infernape, angrily.

Just saying his name seemed to spark up the neighbouring garbodor and nearby houndoom, making them eagerly look at the windows. Ben had the least change to his appearance, only becoming stiffer, while the muscular houndoom was constantly steaming heat and violently vibrating. At the same time, Ben and Shadow called out for Glim, as if he had come to rescue them. Looking at their condition, the intense chains holding them up and not knowing what was far below them, Glim had no plan at all to rescuing them.

'Get us out of here!' growled Jane, facing down again.

'I-I'm going to- I'm going to get you guys out of here, I promise!'

Glim frantically looking across the panel before him and turned to Yvonne with a desperate face, almost begging.

'How do we get them down?'

'Down! Are you crazy!' replied the umbreon. 'Do you know what's below them?'

The glaceon stood on his hind legs, trying to look down, pressing his face against the window, but the darkness was too thick.

'I don't see anything. What's down there?'

'Do you really want to know?'

Glim continued to stare at the pitch blackness, before answering 'no'.

'If you want to get them out of there, it will take authority.' continued Yvonne. 'Just to get you off that, they needed the shut down the paralysis mechanism that each and every cuff has. And then they had to get your unconscious body over here and as you can see… what would you call this window, to over there, four metres?' she said poking at the glass. 'Had they dropped you…'

The umbreon then pointed downwards into the chasm. Glim turned his head, lowering his ear to the vent. Hearing an eerie never ending droning noise that sounded like heavy metal getting pushed by hundreds of motors.

'That's where that noise is coming from.' said Glim, looking at Yvonne, who was just staring at him, with a worried expression. 'Jane, is there anything you can do?'

'Glim, do you not think we have tried everything already? We can barely move for a start! Let alone escape. These things they've hooked us to are torture devices. We move, we're shocked, we don't move, the ice hurts and it fucking hurts! You have to get us out!'

At that point, the little glaceon took steps back, frightened of Jane's anger and sudden pressure piling on him. Just next to the infernape, Ben and Shadow were objecting to Jane's attitude, telling her to go easy on him. Even the umbreon turned round to comfort him, but Glim refused the hug she offered.

'Go easy on him, ape!' argued the houndoom. 'We came all the way out here-'

'You, are not helping! Glim needs to learn to take missions into his own hands!'

'He… doesn't have hands.' whispered Ben.

'Shut up!' shouted both Jane and Shadow.

'Now hold on,' Yvonne interrupted. 'There is an easier way you can get out, I think.'

'You think?' questioned Jane, angrily.

'Yes! Your friend has already earned the trust of the Symphonia democrats and had the hell embarrassed out of him to get it.'

'Yeah, thanks for keeping my maid dress Ben!' said Glim.

'You looked so cute in it.' chuckled the garbodor with a remorseful tone.

'Well, it doesn't matter!' said Yvonne. 'Look, here's what we're going to do.'

As soon as the umbreon finished her sentence, a huge blinding stream of pink diamonds stormed through the tunnel like a blizzard, striking Yvonne and sending her flying to the wall to her right. Glim only got a brief second noticing the attack, but was too late to dodge it, even though it was not focused on him. The Dazzling Gleam did not hurt Glim so much, but getting caught in the crossfire, he was blown onto his back, confused as to what just happened. The glaceon glanced from where Yvonne had crashed and looked down the corridor where he saw Prince Snowdrop approaching, holding up his red bouquet like a cannon and with a motionless expression.

'Actually, you are not going to do anything.' he said.

The glaceon quickly stood, expressing fear and guilt at the very beauty of the roserade, who appeared to be oblivious to the little boy. Snowdrop seemed more interested in Yvonne who was struggling to stand up.

'No! Leave them alone!' cried Jane.

The pretty roserade ignored Jane and Glim and glowed a pulsating black, making his eyes appear leaking. He fired an unusual wave attack from the floor, which hit the downed umbreon and somehow sent her bouncing off the wall and caught perfectly by her neck in Snowdrop's bouquet hand. Yvonne was clearly getting strangled, making the glaceon gasp.

'How many times-'

'Stop!' cried Glim.

Prince Snowdrop turned his gaze over to the little glaceon. The roserade's eyes were bloodshot, the white bouquet that was his head was showing tremendously long thorns, but looking into the eyes of Glim seemed to quell his rage. The stare was not enough for the roserade, he then threw Yvonne at the window, with vines quickly wrapped around her as he repeatedly slammed the umbreon against the wired glass.

'No! Stop, stop!' squeaked the glaceon.

Without thinking, Glim swiftly tackles Prince Snowdrop, forcing him to release his stranglehold on Yvonne and letting her fall to the hard metal floor. The mad roserade meanwhile did not even tip backwards. He merely caught the little glaceon in his arms and was pushed back a metre from Glim's attack. For a moment, the glaceon froze, afraid of what Snowdrop was going to do, he was clearly very powerful and much tougher than he was. Resorting to hope, Glim remained holding onto Snowdrop tightly, like he was trying to show the roserade he was not afraid of him in such an awkward way. Surprisingly, Glim's unnerved ears was met by a soft stroke that travelled between his head and down to his back. He was too scared to look up at the roserade and just waited for him to say something.

'You really are so pathetic, are you not?'

Yvonne lied helplessly on the floor, badly hurt, while Jane and Ben were glued to what was happening behind the windows. Shadow was not able to see for being hung upside down and facing right. The prince knelt down to meet the fragile glaceon on eye level. Snowdrop's eyes had returned back to his vibrant mauve. Still, Glim remained tense and unable to open his eyes.

'Look at me… look at me, pretty.' said the roserade, lightly brushing his blue bouquet on the side of Glim's face.

The little glaceon calmed down and let his front paws touch ground again. As requested, he gingerly opened his eyes, to see a completely different face to what he saw attacking his umbreon friend. Prince Snowdrop looked so much healthier and beautiful. The roserade seemed to be enjoying the sight of Glim's beautiful eyes.

'Do you remember what I said earlier? "You are a lost revolution survivor, who got close to some troublesome friends". Have I not already proved my point? They have already got you attacked and put onto those chains over there. You got lucky in becoming part of our society, but now, you're risking the lives of yourself and other members.'

The glaceon paused, hoping for Jane to interject, but she did not.

'Th-they mean a lot to me.' stuttered Glim, resisting to cry.

Nearby, democrat Alexus the toxicroak approached. He was with Snowdrop when they entered, but chose to stay out of the way.

'Can I help Snow?' asked Alexus.

'Take our umbreon to her mother. She will not be very happy about this.'

'Yes sir.'

The frog pokémon passed Snowdrop to help up Yvonne who was still conscious.

'Come with me, Glim.'

The roserade stood, still with his flowers at the side of the glaceon who remained silent. Glim took one look back at his friends, who stayed staring at him. He could not see it, but his friends believed in him, even though the glaceon felt that he was abandoning them. His look back had a face that said 'I will save you.'

* * *

Prince Snowdrop took little Glim passed Symphonia hospital, where they entered a more linear tunnel. The sign near the entrance stated that goes to Lilac Town. Despite their stroll making them look like good friends, neither Glim nor Snowdrop spoke a single word. The roserade kept his smile, admiring the little glaceon for his sweet, but fearful way of walking, while Glim was hoping for Snowdrop to say the first word. The walk only took about twenty minutes, the tunnel of which was dead empty. No one would use it much due to the town that Lilac Island was known for being dead empty. Glim saw that for himself when he and the prince left the tunnel and into the peaceful harbour of Lilac Town. All they could hear were the waves lightly splashing against the walls. So calm despite the moon being behind the gloomy clouds. The source of light were olden street lanterns, common in small towns, keen to keep their era.

Glim stood eyeing the black sea and sky past the lights and Iris Town that was only five miles away, beaming its lights. Prince Snowdrop stood by him, also admiring the view.

'I think I can see Lopunny Cove.' said Glim, pointing at a random speck of brighter lights on the left side of Iris. 'Those like, big pink and cream lights.'

'Iris Town do look really odd, in all that darkened landscape around it.'

'Yeah.'

'But you know, I tried to get a job at that nightclub once. I heard they accepted both male and female dancers, especially those who were extremes of femininity or masculinity.'

'You wanted to be a dancer?'

The roserade paused.

'I did.'

Snowdrop turned and carried on, following the large path leading to a hill. Glim glanced back at Iris Town, before running to catch up with the prince. The hill surrounding the harbour was very high and steep, making the hill path much longer than the steep angled tunnel at Symphonia. At the bottom of the hill path, Snowdrop stopped by the abandoned boathouse. It was not very big, only sheltering one ferry and also having an office for communications.

'This thing was made before I was even born.' said Snowdrop. 'Bringing safety and freedom to land pokémon who wanted to cross the channel. Now, it's money, money, money. War, war, war.'

'I never really saw the use of boats to be honest. Since so many pokémon could already carry us overseas, like wailord.'

'That was the case centuries ago, and many water types now do take that occupation traditionally. Though back then, pokémon liked to say "the future is now, thanks to science".' Snowdrop chuckled. 'Future… yeah. Just take one look at Haine and see what future is left.'

With nothing more to say, the roserade moved ahead, starting the path that climbs the hill. Glim stared at the pretty prince, a little confused. He did not know what Snowdrop was doing, taking him for a stroll. At first, Glim thought he was heading for some office where he was going to get an earful from the democrats or to have his ass kicked by locals of the society. Instead it seemed that the roserade wanted to bond with the little glaceon. The reasoning, Glim was not so sure of, but he realised he could perhaps persuade Snowdrop to let his friends go.

Glim ran up the path, catching up to the roserade again. Snowdrop continued, as if the glaceon was not there.

'So um… where're we going?' asked Glim.

'I prefer to take this route to the shrine.'

'The shrine?'

'Yes. Lilac Town reminds me of why I'm doing all this. Why I desired to help Rancour in his revolution. Why I must protect my people. Why I never trust family! Why I hate…'

The roserade was unable to finish his sentence and just kept walking. Glim felt awkward, afraid to ask what he was going to say.

'You and I have a lot in common, dear Glim.'

Just when Prince Snowdrop finished his sentence, he pointed at the house they were passing. The house had a frightening atmosphere to it, all the windows were blown out, looking like big melting black eyes. The front door was gone, nothing left but a big hole, indicating an explosion had happened. Just looking at the building made the glaceon feel like he could hear screams. The two stopped, facing the house.

'I want you to go in there.'

'W-what?'

'Go in there and tell me what you think.'

'I think it looks terrifying, can we go?'

'This used to be where I lived. My room was down in the basement. Go in there and take one look. That is all I ask.'

Glim looked back at the house, as if it was an unhappy hungry haunter, waiting to devour who walked into its mouth. The glaceon turned pale as his ears dropped, but remembering his friends lives were at stake, he had to please the roserade. He then nodded with regret and proceeded.

Peeking through the giant hole in the wall, all Glim could see was blackness and broken walls. The stairway on the left was completely smashed and covered with dead weeds, while the room just before the stairs had its door bolted with white paint saying 'keep out'. It was obvious that pokémon had investigated the house before, so Glim felt a little safer. Only taking a few steps in, he felt lost already and did not want to proceed, but neither could he see any stairs going down to some basement. The glaceon turned round, peeking out of the house.

'Uh… wh-where- where's the basement?'

'Behind the kitchen, just ahead of you.'

The glaceon did not answer and just smiled terrifyingly, budging backward into the house. After a good five minutes, Glim finally entered the kitchen, which was down the corridor from the entrance. Like the hallway, so much of it was smashed, junk was all over the place and there were multiple weeds infesting the room. Glim could not see anything moving, but he could hear something strange, like wind rolling down the cliff, somehow singing. The kitchen had another door, also with 'keep out' painted on it, except that door was slightly opened. The little glaceon was terrified. The kitchen was already very dark and whatever was beyond the door he could not see at all, but he knew that Prince Snowdrop could not see him either, so he was going to pretend he went down to the basement and come out speechless and as frightened as he already was. There was no way he would go down there, he was too scared.

'Go forward, Glim.'

Immediately Glim yelped loudly, unaware that Snowdrop was right behind him at that point. He was frozen still, staring at what he could see of Snowdrop's head. The glaceon then took a deep sigh, still shivering.

'You scared me. A-are you coming with me?'

'Of course not. I'm just here to give you that little encouragement as most pokémon would have done it by now.'

Glim looked at the door again and silently groaned. Terrified of something jumping out, he slowly opened the door and peeked around the corner, only just making out a chasm of stairs. The glaceon looked back to see Snowdrop who was still there and then forced himself to enter the creepy narrow stairs. Glim kept asking himself about what Snowdrop could possibly want to hear about his opinion of that room, he could not see anything. The ominous sounds had stopped and there was an indescribable smell. Unaware of how deep the stairs were, the glaceon continued descending blindly, until he heard the door close above him. Glim instantly glanced back up and quietly rushed to the door, hyperventilating as he did, too scared to scream or hit the door violently. He could not even see the door, what was left of the light coming from the outside was fully blocked.

'Y-your majesty, please don't do this!' Glim squeaked, scratching at the door.

Right after saying that, the terrified glaceon started hearing something. At the bottom of the stairs, something was climbing, knocking on each step as it did. Glim's eyes went tiny as terror sunk into his blood, making his icy coat erect with needles. The footsteps got closer and closer, then suddenly Glim burst out his beam of rainbows, lighting up the whole staircase, revealing nothing to be climbing the stairs. His sudden burst of light had blinded him for a moment, which would not have mattered in complete darkness, but rather quickly his sight came back to see that the basement had its light on. It was a blood chilling red, which did not tempt the glaceon to coming down. He could also hear something new, something like creaking metal. Glim took a deep breath and descended, feeling more confident being able to see.

As the glaceon passed enough stairs to see the rest of the basement, he saw that no one was there and easily made it to the bottom. The source of the creaking metal was the lantern slowly swinging in place. The creepy light seemed to match Prince Snowdrop's room regardless, as tidy as it seemed, the walls had a lot of blood stains on them, there were pictures of nothing but more blood stains on them and then a torn up bed. Glim recognised the gory artwork, to being a gothic method of making art with one's blood. Since most of the pictures resemble being brushed with leaves or petals, the glaceon could easily see that Snowdrop was the artist, but whether or not it was his own blood intrigued him. Turning round, Glim did not see it at first, but there was also a desk under the stairs, near the bed of decomposed hay. On it were several stuffed toys with sad faces and a small picture of a little roselia, a croagunk and a buneary, standing below what appeared to be a cacturne and a roserade. Eerily, the roserade and cacturne had their faces torn from the picture.

Having enough of the basement, Glim was eager to get out of there, but when he looked up the stairs, he froze. A black silhouette of something quite large was sitting right on top of the stairs. The little glaceon was trapped and was stuck staring up at the creature that did not look like Snowdrop. Glim wanted to say hello or persuade it to move, but before he could have, the spirit had an evil face glowing on its bottom half, which suddenly blew fire down at the glaceon. His fear prevented Glim from dodging the Flamethrower quick enough, causing hind legs to ache massively as he rolled further into the bedroom. Further away from the stairs, the ghost leaped off the stairs and landed with a thud on the basement floor, glaring at the cornered glaceon. The creature was known as a gourgeist and it was unusually large. Its eyes on the slender plant seemed dead and the fire within the pumpkin was screaming with multiple voices.

Glim had never fought or seen a gourgeist before and was unaware that it was vulnerable to his own element. The glaceon blasted his ray of light just before the giant pumpkin could fire its flames again, out of luck the gourgeist became dizzy from the Signal Beam. It proceeded to frantically wave its enormously thick hair like arms, smashing the walls and staircase near it. With the advantage, Glim fired another shot of rainbows, holding the monster back, which then knew where the glaceon was. The gourgeist swung its hair again, smashing the red light, bringing back total darkness. The only source of light became the creepy face on its pumpkin of souls. Glim could not see where the pumpkin pokémon was attacking, which suddenly grabbed hold of the glaceon and threw him up at the ceiling. He started to panic, frantically shooting Signal Beam in adjacent directions, unable to hit the gourgeist only metres away. The light of the pumpkin then faded, the voices laughed as Glim steadily stood up again, looking out for it. He was then hit on the head, knocking him to the floor. Glim then realised he could not move, the gourgeist was holding him down with its thick hair. Terrifyingly, the pumpkin face glowed into existence again, quite far Glim, but it started cackling loudly as it slowly drew closer to the glaceon who started screaming. The face became only a foot away, but then something flashed, bursting passed the giant pokémon, making it stop. The voices were screaming in pain as the hair lifted from Glim and the gourgeist shifted round, facing the roserade that was emanating black voltage around his body. The monster suddenly screamed out in fury as it tried to zoom into Prince Snowdrop, who then used his Hidden Power once more, making the giant gourgeist disintegrate before it even got to him.

Without the light or the gourgiest's pumpkin light, the basement became pitch black again. Glim sitting in the darkness was traumatised and desperate to get out.

'Glim, are you o-'

'Let's get out of here!' he screamed.

* * *

Outside the broken house, the little glaceon was shivering and breathing deeply. He had ran out of the house far ahead of Snowdrop, who approached little Glim to comfort him.

'Sweetheart,' said the roserade. 'I am so sorry, that happened. I was told it would happen eventually, but I did not think it would.'

Glim remained silent, staring out to the sea, recollecting his thoughts. Prince Snowdrop sat next to him and wrapped his arm over the little glaceon, allowing him to lean on him.

'What was that?' whispered Glim.

'It was known as a gourgeist, Glim. At least, that is the shape of how it ended up.'

'Ended up?'

Snowdrop paused and seemed sad.

'That thing was actually my family… when I lost it. I took joy in killing my parents, but then I got a little… carried away.'

'I remember seeing a picture down there. Were they your family?'

'Yes. But that gourgeist wasn't just my parents. That buneary… my little sister… o-oh god.'

Snowdrop suddenly stood, incapable of fighting the tears that leaked from his eyes. His teeth clenched as he took deep breaths which stopped him from crying. Glim could only watch, too shaken out to move. The roserade paused, regaining his stability. He then looked over at Glim with a smile.

'Did that room seem familiar to you?'

The glaceon paused, tempted to shout angrily at Snowdrop about how he felt. However, he realised why he was so afraid of the house behind him and nodded calmly.

'I came from a violent family too.'

'Did you ever stand up for yourself?'

'I wasn't allowed to…' said Glim with a tear sliding down his face. 'My brothers and parents would hurt me more if I did.'

Prince Snowdrop gave a sympathetic expression and shook his head.

'I know what that's like.'

Half an hour later, the roserade and glaceon continued the walk and climbed most of the hill path, leading to what appeared to be a sudden bite in the path, indicating that the cliff had crumbled, falling into the sea it overlooked. Looking at the trail of cracking, Glim could see that it trailed much further ahead, becoming the edge of the cliffs in the distance.

'Was there a landslide here?' asked the glaceon.

'There was.' replied the prince, pointing at the valley of disfigured rocks, sticking out of the shallow water. 'The cause of it was unknown, but it took thirty nine lives. Pokémon on land and under the water that was there.'

'Oh god.'

'Lilac folk named it "Groudon's Torment". And it sure seemed that way, because once it happened, the relatives of the victims lost their ways and either became criminals or tormented others into the same fate.'

'That's awful.'

Snowdrop moved onward with Glim following shortly. The two finally reached the top of the hill that travelled downward on the other side, to the rest of Lilac Town. Because of the hill's arc, the part of the town Glim was looking at was not visible from Iris Town. It looked just as desolate as the harbour side they had just left. As if it could not seem anymore depressing, the weather lightly started to rain. Not much of an issue for either the roserade or glaceon, since plant like pokémon need the most hydration of any pokémon while ice types need to keep cold. So they walked down the dark road with the rain lightly battering them. Of course, they kept close so the two could hear each other if one spoke, except neither of them spoke for over half an hour as they traversed through the abandoned country town. Glim had wondered if the town was abandoned due to the revolution or if it was long ago. Whatever did happen, the underground society Symphonia was the result.

Near the opposite end of the small town, the glaceon had spotted the glass shrine on top of the next hill they started to climb. On a lower ground in behind the shrine was the town hall. A massive building, resembling olden architecture, much like the Coronet back in Iris. When Glim had noticed the shrine he looked back and saw that Snowdrop was standing in front of the hall and casually walked in, having to force the huge doors open. The glaceon ran upon noticing the roserade's detour.

From the outside, the hall did not appear to rival city buildings, but when Glim left the rain and into another dark structure, he saw that there were three accessible floors, to what seemed more like a performance theatre. The roserade avoided the stairwells to the seats and just proceeded to the stage. The glaceon slowly walked through the door, noticing that most of the roof was gone, allowing the rain to soak the stage where the prince was idly stood with his back to Glim.

'Some light would be nice.' said Snowdrop.

The roserade turned, looking up at the enormous hole in the ceiling, raised his bouquet and boomed a huge purple ball that zoomed into the clouds above. The fired sludge appeared to then explode, causing the sky to flash and dispersing clouds outward to form a gap for the half moon to shine directly into the stage. The move that Snowdrop had used also influenced the weather to rain less. Glim was fascinated by the roserade even knowing where the moon was, but his amazement quickly died when he looked back at the prince who remained looking up, lit up by the beautiful moonlight, reflecting off his soaked petals.

'A half moon…' said Snowdrop, so depressively. 'To me, that says… don't worry, you're getting there, you'll succeed eventually.' he said sarcastically. 'That has always been the case for me. Never complete, never successful, never… loved.'

Snowdrop paused, looking down and Glim approached a little, tempted to ask if he was okay.

'It was here.' the roserade continued. 'It was here I would run away to, when my parents kicked me out. Here, when I needed encouragement, inspiration, determination. Here, where I dreamed to one day perform. But again, the moon repeats to me, "you shalt never succeed". And it is true, I never got to be dancer I craved for, I suffered for, I died for.'

The roserade turned away again and knelt down, holding his head in his bouquets. Glim entered the stage, which appeared to be far bigger than it seemed being off it. The glaceon kept his distance, but wanting help.

'Your majesty. That doesn't mean you have failed. Your people-'

'It does!' Snowdrop interrupted, quickly standing up. 'No performance is ever finished, completed only half way.' he said, then eerily turning to the little glaceon. 'Unless, there were catastrophic accidents, which is all that ever happens to me!'

The roserade held up his bouquet, as if it were a cannon at Glim's direction. The glaceon took a step back, cowering slightly.

'Any act,' continued Snowdrop. 'That ends with the dancer getting rushed out, drenched in blood, or attacked does not scream a finale… does it Glim?'

Afraid to disagree, the little glaceon shook his head. Snowdrop then lowered his fearsome hand of flowers and looked down again.

'But… m-maybe your act was part of one big one?' said Glim. 'Um, with lots of pokémon like you. Like us. A lot of pokémon have had their dreams taken from them.'

'Glim stop. I know why you're still with me right now, why you are sweet talking to me, trying to make me feel better. You're trying to befriend me to release your friends.'

The two paused in silence, giving each other a saddening stare. The glaceon did not budge at all, unwilling to deny or confirm his motive, because deep down, he cared for the roserade. Glim sat and decided to relate on a personal level.

'Your majesty. The reason my friends mean so much to me, is because they all have saved me at some point, even though I never mattered to them. An infernape named Oswald risked his life to save me when Gebera was raided weeks ago. I was still just an eevee. His wife was pissed at him for that, but I was so grateful. He didn't just save me from the Dragon Raid…'

Glim was unable to finish what he was going to say and looked away, appearing angry all of a sudden and breathing deeply. The roserade gave a look as if he knew what Glim was going to say.

'Did you cry a lot, as an eevee?' asked Snowdrop.

'Yeah.'

'Were you bullied for that?'

The little glaceon only nodded slowly, as his eyes shut tightly and mouth began to tremble. Prince Snowdrop carefully approached the broken ice pokémon, knelt down again and hugged him.

'Glim…' said the roserade. 'You and I have so much in common, it hurts.'

'Why does it hurt?'

'Because you remind me of myself when I survived. Glim, if you try to outlive the revolution, you are only going to end up like me.'

The glaceon sat still, keeping hold of his embrace, while the roserade he was holding onto began to twitch and then bewail, holding Glim tighter and tighter. The stage echoed in his sobs as the clouds began covering the moon again, thus resuming the rain. Snowdrop tried to speak, stuttering about his dreams getting crushed by the cruel society and no one ever sympathising for him.

'I hate pokémon. I hate my family. I hate everything. I hate… myself.'

Five minutes later, the despairing plant pokémon finally released his embrace, not that Glim asked him to. They then just sat in front of each other, having nothing to say for a moment. Prince Snowdrop then got up, walked to the centre of the lost stage he never performed on and turned back to the little glaceon.

'Glim, if you want to save your friends, you will have to do us both a favour.'

'W-what?'

'I want you to kill me.'

Suddenly, Glim was overwhelmed with shock and did not process what was just said. Even though he felt he understood the roserade who was giving the most shameful expression.

'What?' repeated Glim.

'Exactly what I said. I don't want to be here anymore.'

'N-no!' said the little glaceon standing on all fours. 'I don't want to kill you.'

Prince Snowdrop closed his eyes, making two loud gun-cocking sounds coming from his bouquet hands. He pointed his flowers directly at Glim again.

'Kill me, or I will kill you with me. We were not made for this world, sweet little glaceon. We're just mental punching bags, for the sick society who wants someone to bully.'

'We- no one has to die your majesty!'

The roserade paused, seemingly remaining still, but all around Glim, darkened pink petals were hovering all around the stage in an odd breeze. It was not long before the blizzard of petals endlessly swirled around the stage, creating a cyclone that trapped the both of them.

'But I want to.' whispered Prince Snowdrop.

The red bouquet he was holding up appeared to open up and glow. Glim gasped and leaped to his side as the roserade shot a Sludge Bomb, igniting on collision with the petal tornado. The explosion barely nudged Snowdrop, but the glaceon was blasted upward and bounced off the razor petals behind the roserade and spiralled helplessly until he crashed back onto the floor. That one attack alone, not even lasting five seconds had damaged Glim severely. His back was burned from the explosion, his head, ear and crown was scratched from the flurry of petals and the crash landing had stressed his left leg muscles and his head, leaving him dizzy. The glaceon was not injured though and was able to stand with the pain he had endured. Snowdrop turned to face him, still with his eyes closed and raising his bouquet.

'Why fight it Glim? There is no future for us. Some human woman kept pestering me about the future once. Apparently I am "level one hundred" whatever that meant.'

Not even getting the chance to reply, Glim saw the dangerously powered bouquet opening again. His great pain prevented him from leaping, so instead the glaceon tried to hurl an Ice Shard as Snowdrop was about to fire another devastating Sludge Bomb. The large shard of ice was thrown perfectly as the roserade fired his attack, making the bomb explode in his face. His red bouquet had hundreds of tiny petals blown from it as the roserade was launched into the whirlwind of petals and rapidly catapulted into the petals on the otherside before he too crashed onto the floor. Glim meanwhile was also blown into the razor pink wall, but for not being so close to the explosion, he was only pushed back. Despite the enormous backfire, Prince Snowdrop stood tough, like he could still take gunfire to his head. He kept a depressive stare, while the glaceon was scared for his life, but also confused.

'Are you not going to kill me, my sweet?' Snowdrop asked.

'No! You don't understand! I don't want-'

Without any warning, the roserade aggressively swung his arm, suddenly casting a bright pink flash that looked like a blizzard of diamonds, striking Glim back into the petals, which only bounced him back onto the stage. Before the glaceon fell to the ground, Snowdrop zoomed toward him and caught him by his neck.

'Glim! I can't do this anymore! I've had enough of this hell! It was too late for me when I killed my family, for trying to kill me!' screamed the roserade, who violently threw Glim across the stage. 'Why won't you fight back!'

The little glaceon was in too much pain, all around his body from that last attack and was just left in a ball, twitching. He could only look up, watching the broken prince approach him.

'Because…' Glim stuttered. 'Because I'm not giving up. I just want to save my friends. Even if that costs my life.'

The distraught roserade kept eye contact with the hurt glaceon as he rose his trembling bouquet once more. His eyes were bloodshot, enraged and saddened at once. The stare of anger quickly turned into a stare of despair as tears rapidly leaked from the beautiful prince. Suddenly Snowdrop raised his bouquet cannon further, pointing at his own head. Glim gasped seeing that movement.

'You will give up eventually, Glim.'

'No! Stop!'

Another explosion sent the deeply hurt glaceon sliding across the floor and getting stopped by the petals that began to disperse, drifting downward like snow and turning grey. Glim sat up, gathering what energy he had and could see the body of a headless roserade, lying silently on the stage. Hundreds of multi coloured petals drifted to the floor, surrounding what used to be Prince Snowdrop. Struggling to cope with what just happened, the glaceon passed out from exhaustion.

'Thank you for trying to save me Glim, but… I had enough a long time ago. What you said to me was something I used to say. One day, if you survive the revolution, you will understand how I felt.'

* * *

The little glaceon had passed out for only ten minutes, woken up by the sound of buzzing. Glim looked up at the strange noise, to see two yanmega and a gigantic beedrill with enormous stingers and much angrier eyes. The three bugs were glaring down at the remains of Prince Snowdrop who remained immobile. The three flying bugs then glanced over to the lonely glaceon, who looked frightened and dangerous to approach. Unexpectedly the beedrill's red eyes began glowing, making odd radio noises, while the two yanmega were nodding to what their leader was saying. They abruptly left, darting up through the hole in the roof at an incredible speed.

'Oh my god no!' yelled Alexus, leaping into the hall.

The glaceon took one look at the toxicroak behind him. Alexus was astonished and had a face of great despair when he noticed the body of their leader on the floor.

'What happened!' he demanded, glaring at the vulnerable glaceon.

'Snowdrop… I-I tried to save him, but…'

'Sir! What's going on?' called Cyrus, also storming in with a crobat with him.

The nidoking and crobat shared the same look of shock as their toxicroak executive. Alexus quickly helped Glim up.

'It's worse.' said the toxicroak. 'The Interceptors were just here, probably the ones who killed my brother.'

'You're shitting me!'

'No, I'm not! Kelly, red alert, Symphonia is about to get hit hard. We will need everybody.'

'Yes sir!' replied the crobat, bolting through the same gap in the roof.

Without a moment to lose, Alexus dragged the confused glaceon out of the building. Cyrus ran out in a hurry, relaying to information to the poison type pokémon who stood nearby.

'Wait, wait! What's going on?' squeaked Glim.

'Snowdrop is dead! His Dazzling Gleam technique was our only defence to stop the Republic using the Dragon Raid on us!' replied the stressed frog pokémon.

Glim gasped.

'That's right,' he continued. 'Now that the Republic know, they're coming for us, right now!'

'I have to save my friends!'

'Yeah, good luck.' said Alexus sarcastically, lightly patting the glaceon and running with the nidoking.

Little Glim was still hurt from his fight with the roserade, causing him to resort to limping after the group of poison types, who were desperately returning to Symphonia to gather their troops. Only so few were positioned on top. While Glim was making the last climb toward the shrine, where the steep tunnel into Symphonia was located, he could hear a wail of sirens. Its ominous droning noise was bellowing not from Lilac, but surprisingly from Iris, several miles away. The Dragon Raid was not just for Symphonia it seemed, as the innocent coastal town was going to be bombed also.

Desperate to return to the cave town, the little glaceon could only ignore the horrifying sirens, but then out of the blue, the sky began to light up, at least from what Glim could see. First he looked up and then turned round, behind the glass shrine, the town of Iris appeared to be exploding in the distance. So many explosions erupting in different sizes and coordination at once. The sound was not audible immediately, but Glim could only brace himself for the tremendously loud bangs that were inevitable. Still desperate to save his closest friends from their prison, the glaceon tried to ignore his shock and ran for the tunnel, only to be bombarded by multiple bigger pokémon rushing up the path he was trying to run down. Most of the Pokémon who had ran into him were angry, bloodthirsty poison type soldiers, eager for a fight. Some were even cheering at the devastation of Iris Town. Glim only cowered down, hoping for nobody to trample on him.

'Glim!' shouted Garrus, stopping in front of the timid glaceon.

The drapion was not alone, Kelly the crobat flew past him, while Mayleen and Yvonne caught up with the ogre scorpion.

'You alright Glim?' shouted Yvonne, who looked beaten after what happened in the prison chamber.

The glaceon got up, eager to get past them.

'I have to save them!'

'No, Glim!' argued the umbreon, blocking the way. 'The underground is too dangerous, it'll cave in!'

'I have to try!' screamed Glim.

The glaceon barged between Yvonne and the nidorina who looked back, concerned. The drapion meanwhile was uninterested and more focused on the situation.

'Nevermind him!' said Garrus. 'You two need to go! Follow that path down-'

Suddenly the Draco Meteors started impacting, one of which smashed right through the drapion, blowing his body apart. One of his arms flew past Glim as he was thrown into the air by rapid explosions that started lighting up the island, turning it into a savage warzone. The glaceon was deafened, crashing onto a hill, witnessing multiple pokémon also tumbling down the hill and the sky lighting up in an array of magic attacks. It was havoc, any pokémon who arrived early probably did not get orders and was left for themselves. Behind the swarm of bright blue lights being the Draco Meteors were the flock of flying type pokémon summoned by the Republic. Just by seeing the silhouettes, Glim could see that so many of them were salamence, noivern and hydreigon.

The glaceon attempted to stand up again, but as soon as he stood, another meteor crashed near where he facing, sending him flying into the crashing sea behind him. At that point, he had no more power to fight with, he could not even swim to safety. The last thing he saw started with a few red flashes of light above the water and then something white with long elegant wings dove into the water, diving for Glim. The exhaustion got the better of the little glaceon once again as he passed out. Unknowing of where he was next to wake up. All he could think about was trying to save Jane, Shadow and Ben, whom he had promised to save.


	6. Sharing the warmth

Chapter 6  
'Sharing the warmth'

* * *

When the Republic decide to Dragon Raid any city in Crio, there are always survivors, in one way or another, but when it is just a town, any survivors were more than just lucky. Surviving such a wide spread attack was a feat of luck on its own, something that the little glaceon had as he was rescued before drowning. However, his rescue was also arrest as it was a raid snatcher that had saved him. Glim was wanted by the Republic's squadron who took charge of the Dragon Raid that day.

'How is he?' asked a bold mechanical voice.

'Physically, his body is severely stressed.' replied a mature female voice. 'A high level of tiredness, with added caffeine in his blood, which also happens to be healthy for the average ice type. There is a bit of head trauma after nearly drowning, but taking in that he was exhausted as Commander Merc reported. Lots of cut wounds and explosive burns, but were heal-able, most we presume to have been a result from the roserade target.'

'Will he be fit enough for interrogation?'

'That is a matter of that includes mentality, and since we have not been able to examine him awake so far, I can only say no.'

'That's not going to stop Vice. It's going to tear him apart. Do you think he can take physical abuse?'

'Would it matter if I did not recommend it?'

'No.'

'Then why are you asking?'

'Because… recommendation or not, we have orders that take priority. You're analysis will come useful in terms of…'

The mechanical voice paused.

'You intend to torture him, don't you?' she replied with a tone of frustration.

'No, I don't. But two higher ranks do.'

* * *

The words he had heard Glim thought was all a dream, a theory that completely broke as he slowly woke, facing toward a pitch black window, with his head laid on a lowered steel table. As his blurred vision revealed his eyes to be opening, he could hear mechanical muttering far from him in the same soundproofed room. Suddenly a lone blinding light beamed just above him. Immediately Glim jolts backward, squinting his eyes and raising his paws to partially block the light, which was when he noticed that his front paws were cuffed. It made him nervous, glancing left to right, finally waking up in what appeared to be a silent room used for police interrogations. Ahead of him approached a massive blue metal beast, with blood red eyes, stomping each heavy foot as it did. Having only woken up, the little glaceon was drowsy and as frightened as his energy could allow. The giant machine pokémon stopped just behind the desk, revealing itself to be Vice Vora, a metagross. The light did not reflect off its metal body and kept it slightly shaded while its eyes still glared at Glim.

'Just so you know.' started the metagross, speaking loudly in an intimidating, echoing metallic voice. 'Ice types are favourable lunch for machines, such as myself, you would cool down my constantly fried circuitry. Now unless you do not want that to happen to you…' it said, suddenly raising its two huge front legs and hammering the table, causing enormous dentures. 'You will cooperate!' Vice yelled to Glim's face.

The little glaceon covered his eyes like a vulnerable baby and braced himself, like he was expecting an attack. Seeing Glim's reaction caused Sergeant the magnezone to rush out of the shadows.

'Whoa, stop, stop!' it called, while the magnezone and the metagross to one brief look at the blank window to their right. 'Yes, he's already at breaking point, step off!'

'Pussy.' said the giant iron legged monster as it drew its front legs off the table and remained still. The sergeant meanwhile passed the metagross and levitated lower and closer to the frightened glaceon.

'Sorry about that. Vice can be a real asshole when it wants to be.'

The magnezone paused, giving Glim a moment to breathe and stop shivering. Slowly, the little glaceon revealed one eye, peeking at Sergeant who kept its distance and had more reassurance in its oddly formed mechanical eyes. Glim calmed down, unable to look ahead to see the menacing metagross on the other side still.

'Let's start with who you are, okay?' asked the magnezone, who got a coy nod from as its reply. 'Can you identify yourself?'

'It's Glim.' whispered the glaceon.

'Can you tell us how old you are and where you're from?'

'Um… I don't actually know how old I am, I generally just say I'm twenty. I- and I used to live in Gerbera City.'

'Confirm!' grunted Vice Vora, looking at the blank window again. The window then received a hard thud, making both the metagross and magnezone glance back at Glim who then knew he was being watched or even monitored.

'Okay, thank you Glim.' said the hovering pokémon. 'We will cut straight to the chase. You see, the Interceptors ordered your rescue for a reason.'

'You were found unconscious, near the body of Prince Snowdrop, a former CR executive, who was a real danger to our operations. Even before his death, you were tracked accompanying him.'

'O-okay.' Glim stuttered.

'Were you friends with him?' Sergeant asked.

'Shut up!' interjected the angry metagross. 'Did he tell you about a bastard named Rancour?'

'Y-you mean the leader?' replied the frightened glaceon. 'Y-yes, he said a bit about him.'

'Tell us!' shouted the metagross, pounding the table. Glim quickly braced himself seeing the dynamic movement and the magnezone did not interject that time.

'He's a- uh… he's a, well.' stuttered Glim, while the blank window received another thud and the magnezone nudged Vice Vora off the table, who then nudged back telling Sergeant to back off.

'Calm down glaceon.' reassured the magnezone. 'Tell us what you know, please.'

Again, Glim took a moment to slow his breathing and stop twitching.

'I was- I was told that he was a bisharp… a-and he is in the capital, Haine.'

'Yes.' growled Vice Vora. 'We, know, what he is and that he is in Haine. Where in Haine!'

'I-I don't know! That was all I was told! We thought he would be on Lilac!'

Suddenly the metagross and magnezone shot each other a look of confusion and then glanced at the window again. Glim also looked over at the window, confused why they kept looking at it. Sergeant was the first to look back at the glaceon.

'You weren't part of Symphonia?'

'They made me a part of them. But I was only there to save my friends, who were taken prisoner.'

'And how did they end up there?'

'Well… Jane, an infernape, she wanted to end the revolution more than any of us, saying one side had to fall. At the time, we thought that the leader was Snowdrop. She was the first who disappeared… and we tried to find her.'

'Great plan!' blurted Vice Vora sarcastically.

'Hey,' interjected Sergeant. 'He did kill Snowdrop before you did.'

Glim sat silently, knowing that he did not kill the roserade either, but felt more at ease seeing Vice Vora get spoken back to. But mentioning his friends made him remember something he was desperate to ask.

'My friends! Did you save them?'

'Who and what were your friends?'

'There was Jane as I said, Ben a garbodor and Shadow my boy-' he paused. 'A houndoom.'

'If they were present during the Dragon Raid, I can't say it would be likely Glim.'

'They weren't though. They were still imprisoned when I tried to rescue them.'

'Underground?'

Glim replied nodding with a pale expression. The Sergeant looked over to the blank window for a much longer duration, while Vice Vora remained glaring at the little glaceon. The silence was terrifying Glim, as the magnezone slowly looked back at him with a pained look in its eyes.

'Your friends are dead.' answered the metagross, turning round to leave. 'Get over it.'

The little glaceon's ears sunk as he looked down, hiding his beautiful eyes.

'There is one last question, Glim.' said the magnezone, with a sorrowful tone. 'Would you consider joining the Republic's enforcement? Because you're quite right, "one side has to fall" and seeing as the revolution has now taken three of your friends.'

The glaceon then slowly looked up at the magnezone with an expression holding in misery, rage and agony.

'But they weren't the ones who killed my friends.'

Sergeant paused, staring at the distressed glaceon before looking over at the blank window one last time. The magnezone then followed Vice Vora leaving the dark room without looking back.

* * *

After his interrogation, Glim was escorted down a very noisy corridor, made of huge metal doors and walls. The noise were coming from imprisoned pokémon revolutionaries or refugees, unwilling to join the cause. The glaceon was released of his paw cuffs, while two gallade, one in front and one behind him progressed down the very long, dull corridor. Eventually the tall gallade in front stopped, turning right to a door numbered 495. The little glaceon was still distraught from the news and just wanted to be alone. The door was violently opened and Glim was not interested who else may be in it.

'New roommate, faggot.' said the gallade, holding the door open.

The little glaceon walked in with his head down. Before he completely passed the door, the crown of his head was met by an enormous force, slamming his face to the floor and into confusion and dizziness. The gallade behind then kicked Glim into the cell as his sight blackened.

'Hey!' screamed out a feminine voice. 'What'd you do that for!' the door then slammed and the sounds of little paw steps approached the hurt glaceon. 'Are you okay?'

Glim could feel his head being lifted and rested on something as heavenly soft as a cinccino's thick, silky scarf during winter. His conscious slipped out for a minute before opening his eyes to reveal a very pretty fox pokémon. The burning, saddening red eyes Glim was watched by was Beryl, a braixen. When the little glaceon appeared awake, the fox softly stroked the freezing cheek of Glim who was seeing Beryl upside down. His eyes were showing such a deep level of compassion and love, like Beryl really wanted the little glaceon.

'Are you okay?' he asked again.

The little glaceon struggled to sit up, deflated like a rejected drifloon and seeing the dark room as a reminder of his failure to save his friends, his broken promise and hopelessness. The cell only had a barred window as its source of light, which was the light reflecting off Beryl's beautiful eyes. Glim was not interested in the décor or what were in the other cells or what the gallade guard did to him or even if there was any chance to escape. In the spot as he sat, he only wanted one thing as he looked over at the uncomfortable metal slate with a thin blanket.

'I'm sorry.' said the glaceon, pausing. 'But I just want to be alone right now.' he said, with his voice cracking.

The sweet braixen behind Glim also had an expression of holding back tears and nodded.

'Of course.' whispered Beryl, as Glim weakly climbed onto his bed. 'But… if- if you need to talk. I'm right here, okay?'

Glim laid on his right side, facing the wall. The blanket was not even soft or clean, but that did not bother the little glaceon. Everything to him felt like some sort of attack, except for the kind braixen sharing the cell.

'Thank you.' said Glim, almost mumbling.

Beryl did hear the broken glaceon, considering how tall his ears were, but decided not to reply, seeing that Glim had enough. He too laid down on his uncomfortable bed, attempting to go back to sleep, though it was half-past five in the morning. Just in case, the braixen faced the glaceon on the other side of the room and patiently stared at him.

Soon the frequent shouting and complaining of the other inmates was drowned out by the sound of rain hitting the cell window. The noise of the non-stop watery battering triggered Glim to silently cry as his shoulders trembled endlessly and his eyes tightly closed, flooding out tears. The braixen watching could tell he was crying and again decided to not to interrupt and just keep watching, feeling all the more sorrowful for Glim.

* * *

Hours later, the pretty braixen remembered the sensation of sitting in the rain, near what appeared to be a cave. Even closer was the sound of a young girl holding in her cries, before letting it out, bewailing loudly. Beryl suddenly realised that it was no girl but the little glaceon sharing his cell. He sat up, gasping in desperation, looking toward the beautiful voice as his vision cleared. Glim was just sat on the floor, facing the window with his little paws covering his head. Beryl just stared for a moment before carefully leaving his bed and slowly kneeling down next to Glim. The glaceon was slowing down in his cries, but was really just holding it in.

'Sweetie,' whispered Beryl in a caring tone. 'Do you need a hug?'

Without even answering, Glim slowly turned his head to the braixen and raised his paws outward. The fox boy quickly responded to his need and embraced the little glaceon. Glim rested his head between Beryl's very warm neck and shoulder and broke down again, holding the braixen tightly. Beryl had no idea what was wrong or even who the glaceon was, but was deeply enjoying the cuddle. He knew however, that Glim was too distraught to want to talk, so Beryl kept to his comforting.

It took a good ten minutes before the glaceon had finally calmed down, but even so, they still held each other for another ten minutes. The major differences in their fur temperature was uncomfortable at first, but they quickly got used to it.

'Do you have a name, sweetheart?' asked Beryl.

'Glim.' he whispered.

'I don't suppose you want to talk about something, do you?'

'It was all my fault...' Glim paused. 'I tried to save my friends, who bailed me out. But… I couldn't save them and got the island raided.'

'Island?'

'Lilac Island… their leader really liked me, so I tried to persuade him to let my friends go. But he ended up killing himself and the Republic Dragon Raided the town.' Finishing his sentence, Glim began tearing up again.

'That wasn't your fault!' said Beryl, caressing the glaceon. 'The Republic bombed the island. You were trying to save your friends.'

Beryl's words did not seem to help as Glim held tighter, crying more.

'Oh, sweetheart.' continued Beryl. 'You are far from the first to have suffered. We are at revolution remember. If your friends knew what you did, in trying to save them, do you think they would be proud of you?'

'I don't know.' stuttered Glim. 'They were prisoned at the time.'

'Oh yes, I'm sorry.'

After five more minutes, the two boys eventually let go of each other, but still remained facing each other.

'I-I'm Beryl by the way.'

Glim did not even ask for his name and just nodded coldly.

'How long are we to remain here, do you know? Do we get let out at some point?'

'This isn't a prison, Glim.' said Beryl, shaking his head. 'More of a death camp, for revolution refugees or innocent pokémon of minor differences.'

The glaceon noticed the hint of rebellion in the way the braixen said 'minor differences'.

'Is that how you've ended up here? I heard the gallade call you a faggot.'

'Yes.' he whispered.

'And what did you mean by "death camp"? Are we stuck here?'

'Yes- I mean, we're still prisoners, but the Republic won't let us out or commune with other inmates. If they see any value in us, they'll keep us alive, which is what those are for.' said Beryl, pointing at two food and water bowls next to a hatch near the door.

'So… we're just stuck in this cell?'

'Until the revolution is finished.'

'Oh.'

* * *

Time passed. It was three in the afternoon and the sun was beginning to set, though it was not visible through the overcast. Beryl and Glim passed most of the time talking, which was general pass time during constant imprisonment. At least, the most subtle pass time when meeting your roommate for the first day. The braixen and glaceon had their first meal at twelve, which was just two bowls of dried food, commonly edible crap for most kinds of pokémon. Knowing the two were likely to get indigestion or whatever may have been put into their food, Glim and Beryl sat next each other on the left side bunk, looking up at the window.

'So…' started Glim. 'Where were you when the Republic arrested you?'

'I was here, in Hydrangea. Me and-'

'We're in Hydrangea City?'

'Yeah. You've come a way from Lilac. This is the closest major prison the Republic have in the Valor County. Probably because they bombed Gerbera a few weeks ago.'

'Oh yeah, I was there when that happened.'

'It wasn't much better in Hydrangea, to be honest. The city, rather like Haine, Liatrus and Poinsettia have fallen into a two sided war. And if the Republic know exactly where the revolutionaries are based or if we won the city, guess what? The city gets Dragon Raided.'

'You were part of the Crimson Revolution?'

'Sort of… I didn't really have a choice you see. When it all began, everyone only had two choices. One, fight for the Republic and murder every dark type Pokémon, which then escalated into homosexuals... including myself! Or, stand up against the Republic for its crimes and try to survive. Who do you think I was going to side with?'

Glim nodded in agreement, hiding the fact that he too wanted the CR to fall. Well being kept prisoner had him starting to rethink his priorities and who to stand up for. He only joined the revolution because he did not want to be left behind and Jane had mistaken the Symphonia for the Crimson. The whole scenario made the glaceon hold his head, like he was enduring confusion.

'I was only looking for Harold, the father of my best friend, which was when we got ambushed. Apparently Harold was already killed. And Julie…'

Beryl stood, sighing out of his mood swing, creating tension in his throat. He then shielded his eyes as his face was turning pink and breathed deeply. Glim stared at the braixen just standing silently, recognising the shed of distress.

The braixen continued breathing deeply, whilst nodding. The glaceon decided not to push Beryl into answers. However, he realised something seeing the braixen from behind, there was no wand within his tail. Glim assumed that it must have been destroyed when Beryl was arrested, since braixen usually make wands out various shapes of branches. It was quite commonly known that braixen get rather picky about what wand they use.

* * *

At eight, Glim and Beryl had their dinner, but were struggling to finish it as it tasted so bad, it was just more very dry food and the two boys were not very hungry anyway. They had spent over half a day together in the same cell and Beryl frequently spoke about escaping and what he would do if he could leave. The glaceon meanwhile seemed less interested, he just laid depressed on his bed for the majority of his day. Whenever the braixen asked about what Glim wanted to do for the revolution, he would not answer and lightly shake his head. It was obvious to Beryl that Glim did not want to take part in the revolution anymore and was still broken from his own guilt. The deflated glaceon just remained there, ears down and looking at the window as the rain began to slow down.

The sound of the rain did not drown the noise of the constant yammering of neighbouring inmates, but during the awkward loitering, the pretty fox had noticed the little glaceon had fallen asleep. Sleeping by boredom was probably the third most common pass time. Beryl was not so tired and just remained sitting aimlessly for a few more hours, pondering on how he could escape. But with hardened iron walls with specialised materials to build them, it would take a raging rampardos or chandelure at max heat to damage them, including the doors. However as luck had it, breaking out did not seem to be necessary as Beryl started hearing what sounded like scratching behind the door. It sounded hollow, like it was messing with something metal. At first the braixen was scared that the gallade were bored and wanted to beat up someone again.

'Glim? Glim! Wake up!' he said, nudging the curled up glaceon who quickly opened his eyes in a daze as he rolled onto his back. 'I think someone's coming in.'

Glim sat up, staring at the door, while Beryl took a few steps back, bracing himself for what was about to happen. Just behind the door, there was strange muttering of a low pitched male voice and a butch female voice making small talk.

'Wait, my claw's stuck.' chuckled the male voice.

'For God's sake.' replied the female.

Suddenly the small door clicked loudly and opened inward with a floating sneasel stuck in its lock.

'Ow, ow, ow, ow!' grunted the sneasel, tilted at an unusual angle and pushed forward by psychic energy, coming from an alakazam behind him.

The alakazam was unusual unlike most of her species, she was tall and had no moustache at all and in its place she had two long scars. She kicked the sneasel free from the lock and crashing between the two inmates. Glim recognised the intruding sneasel, he was Angel, the same one who helped the disguised glaceon into the Lopunny Cove.

'W-what's going on?' asked Beryl.

'Keep your voice down.' demanded the alakazam, entering the cell as Angel stood back up, shaking his left claw.

'We're here to rescue you, girls.' said Angel with a sly grin, which made Glim give a sigh in annoyance.

'We're boys.' he replied.

The sneasel paused, keeping his grin as he looked back at the alakazam. 'You said we were rescuing chicks.'

'I never said they were girls.' she answered. 'Now come on, we need to get you out of here.' addressing the confused glaceon.

Glim did not know what to think, though he could see the braixen astonished and hiding his joy, the glaceon meanwhile actually felt reluctant to leave.

'Wow, really?' said Beryl so happily.

'Wait, just these two?' interrupted Angel, suddenly changing his mood. 'What about all the other refugees?'

'They are not important.' said the alakazam.

'Not important?' said Angel angrily approaching the unusually tall, intimidating psychic pokémon. 'Most of these prisoners are innocent!'

'Then you can stay here. I have come to rescue Glim.'

Hearing his name made the glaceon twitch, confused even further. Since they were being rescued, he did not want to waste time questioning them.

Knowing how brutal a Republic prison can be, Angel backed down from arguing with the clearly war-hardened alakazam. The sneasel only shrugged and looked at the two prisoners they were rescuing. Beryl seemed excited, both in a worried way and eager to get out. He gave Glim an encouraging glance.

'Well, come on let's go-'

Trying to pass the alakazam, Beryl was stopped by her, who held up what appeared to be a short staff made of wood. The staff was a beautiful mix of navy, blue with two white jewels on the handle.

'You will be needing this, Beryl.'

The braixen seemed to not notice that the alakazam knew his name and gazed at the wand. He could tell it was a wand for braixen and delphox, but to see one of that design was hypnotising. Beryl accepted it, taking it slowly in his lustrous spell.

'Now let's go already.' she demanded, quickly floating out of the cell, followed by Angel and Beryl who snapped out of his infatuation.

Glim followed the three pokémon out as they headed right, heading for the north end of the ominously long corridor. It was just as dark as it was in the corridors as it was in the cells for having so few lights. Unlike the little glaceon, the sneasel, alakazam and braixen were so much faster and were leaving Glim behind. The little glaceon could hear the alakazam in his head, telling him to hurry up and using her psychic powers to telekinetically pull him to the party.

'You know where the exit is, right?' asked Angel.

'Yes.' replied the alakazam sternly. 'But we're going to have to fight our way out anyway.'

'Ah shit, really? There's like a thousand guards out here-'

'Going loud!' called the alakazam, as she leaned back during her charge forward, making the unusual purple and red orb harnessed to her torso glow. With the others behind her stopping, the alakazam threw her arm forward and suddenly an enormous black ball boomed ahead of her and exploded when it hit the reinforced door at the end.

From outside the death camp, a boom was easily heard, shaking the whole structure and creating a huge flash of darkness. What felt like an earthquake, immediately caught the attention of all nearby guards and executives Sergeant and Vice Vora. The magnezone and metagross were both in separate locations when they heard the explosion, however that only triggered the sergeant to sound the alarms, while the enormous Vice Vora folded up its iron legs and flew in pursuit.

The explosion from what was called a Shadow Ball, had knocked the glaceon and braixen off their feet, while Angel was left dazed from the sheer volume of the attack. He quickly spotted little Glim on the floor and helped him up, while Beryl struggled to get back on his feet. Their hearing was hurting as a result of the Shadow Ball ferocity, but the alakazam continued forward and she walked, knowing that her companions would need a moment to stabilise themselves.

The door, along with chunks of its surrounding walls that was blown off revealed a courtyard, which was used for either executions or training Republic recruits. Just outside of the gap in place of the door was a stair tower to the roof of the main building, however, just outside were local guards on standby who began their approach. The Shadow Ball had left a thin dark fog layer, covering the alakazam and without being able to see immediately, the few gallade, machoke and ursaring approached cautiously. As soon as the prison guards reached the fog, they were all suddenly blown away by a blizzard of blinding pink lights. The alakazam emerged from the dissipating cloud, beaming her Dazzling Gleam to keep even more guards back. It would not be long until they would be surrounded. She turned and using her immense psychic powers, ripped off the olden metal door off the stair tower.

'Go! Go!' shouted the alakazam. 'Get to the roof! I'll take care of this!'

The mighty alakazam resumed her onslaught of Dazzling Gleam, pushing waves and waves of pokémon back, making them look so weak and useless. Meanwhile, Angel refused to argue and bolted up the dark stairs, followed by Beryl and Glim. It looked like the stairs had not been used in years, judging by the amount of dust and grime that was covering the walls. During their rush upstairs, whenever there was some gap, they would always see pink flashes from the alakazam who was relentlessly fighting below.

After climbing what felt like twenty floors, the little pokémon, other than the sneasel were exhausted and were running on desperation. The area and door at the very top was pitch black, which caused Angel to run into the door before noticing it. He swiftly got back up, shrugging his tumble as the pretty braixen and glaceon joined him on the same floor.

'Is that the door?' asked Beryl.

'Yep,' replied Angel. 'Hold on.'

The sneasel lunged his claw into the thick iron lock, while the braixen turned to make sure nothing was coming up the stairs. Angel grunted in pain, forcing the old mechanism to unlock which appeared to really hurt him.

'Yo, glaceon.' said Angel, struggling to keep his finger in the lock. 'I need you to push the door!'

Responding quickly to Angel's plea, Glim recklessly rammed into the door, forcing it to creak open. The braixen swiftly followed the glaceon, while the sneasel skilfully kicked the door back when he freed himself from it. The three fugitives found themselves on a long dark rooftop. There were protected satellites on each corner, while two landing pads remained to be the only lit up features on the roof. It had also seemed that their presence was getting ignored, seeing two gallade and a charizard running across the roof nearby and fearlessly jumping into the battlefield below, where the alakazam could still be heard blowing up pokémon.

'We're almost there!' called Angel, running ahead, attempting to cross to the other side of the roof.

'Don't count on it!' shouted Vice Vora, trying to crash land on top of Angel, who leaped back just in time. The giant metagross caught itself, sinking its iron legs into the roof and barely needing away strength to rip its claws free from the roof.

The very sight of the huge mechanical pokémon sent chills down Glim's spine, making him take steps back. Beryl meanwhile stood forward, near the confident sneasel.

Vice Vora had not come alone, it was accompanied by two little joltik on top of it. Common pokémon to be used when arresting another. While the metagross adjusted itself in position, the little electric spider pokémon leaped off, glaring at the three runaways. Being so small with big eyes, the joltik were not exactly intimidating, but were not joking around. The two joltik fired strings of web, which was immediately vaporised by a ring of fire from Beryl, who stood one step ahead of Angel and Glim with his unique wand glowing aflame.

'Initiate!' called Vice Vora.

The braixen was unwilling to back down and waved his wand again, that time downward, causing the joltik of authority to become surrounded in a ring of fire. The metagross would have also been trapped in the fire, but it leaped up before the fires erupted, raising its front leg. Before Beryl was about to get crushed, Angel forcefully grabbed him and jumped back. Vice Vora looked like it was trying to use Meteor Mash, when in fact, it was using Earthquake, forming an enormous crater in the roof when its leg inserted itself into it. The joltik were flung out of the fires that became extinguished, while Glim was also catapulted into the air, following the airborne sneasel and braixen who neatly landed near the stair tower. Beryl fell out of Angel's grip and hit his back against the wall of the tower.

Vice Vora leaped up again, fiercely landing near the edge, putting itself between the three pokémon and the main prison wall, which the metagross had figured the fugitives were attempting to leap over, since the main building was far higher than it. Seeing the falling metagross, Angel took the opportunity to retaliate, as soon as Vice Vora landed, the sneasel dive rolled, evading the ground shaking and made his right claw glow black. Angel gave a swift uppercut to the face of the giant machine and knocked off its wide lens that was mounted to its left eye. Even though dark attacks can easily disrupt psychic type pokémon, Vice Vora only grunted and nudged back, followed by a horizontal swing of its front right leg, quickly catapulting the frail sneasel back and flying into Beryl who was knocked back. The attack left Angel on the floor, tightly holding his torso with a matching expression of pain.

Beryl quickly got up, but his distance from the fearsome metagross put him in less danger, as opposed to Glim who was just in front of the injured sneasel. Glancing back at Vice Vora, the little glaceon suddenly saw his life flash before his eyes, remembering the drapion about to attack Oswald and Prince Snowdrop holding his bouquet cannon in front of him. As the giant machine pokémon leaped up once more, undoubtedly aiming at Glim, he suddenly felt the urge to mimic the alakazam from earlier. In slowed down space, the little glaceon screamed, bursting out a Shadow Ball at Vice Vora, which caused the same shadowy explosion, though far smaller compared to the alakazam's, but strong enough to redirect the metagross to land away from Glim. Vice Vora paused, glaring at the frightened glaceon. It seemed hurt, but Glim's attack seemed to only anger it.

'Are you really going to try and fight me, you pathetic little crybaby?'

Several metres behind Glim, the timid, but desperate braixen was about to cast Ember at the the metagross, but as he raised his wand, his arm was hit by very sticky strings, encasing the wand to his arm, which remained pointing up. Beryl realised it was the two joltik, rejoining the battle.

'No!' screamed Beryl, managing to swing his arm down, discharging another ring of fire, which caused the strings of web to burn away, however his own arm was still stuck stiff. The joltik quickly side stepped, dodging the Fire Spin.

Vice Vora and Glim appeared to be having a glaring contest, waiting for the other to attack first. It seemed the usually slow metagross had a strategy for that situation as its hind legs appeared to fold up, while the front two remained on the ground. Glim did not know what to do, knowing using Shadow Ball again would only persuade Vice Vora to dodge it and follow up an attack. Suddenly, the folded up legs boomed like jet engines and the metagross flew into the glaceon at incredible speed, taking Glim by surprise as Vice Vora delivered a Bullet Punch. Glim was hit across his head, throwing him into the wall next to him and bouncing off it. The glaceon only stopped nearby Beryl, but his jaw and eye socket was in great pain. He struggled to get up as he saw the metagross suddenly took off into the air once again. Glim looked up and gasped, paralysed in fear. However, just when Vice Vora was about to rapidly fall, it was met by a tremendous black ball, which immediately exploded, leaving the metagross let out a monstrous, echoing scream. From the explosion, a dark fog had spread but then quickly dissipated, revealing Vice Vora to crash onto its back like a stunned spider. When it unstably rolled onto its legs again, the metagross was seen to have lost its front left leg and was glowing a dark purple around the same area. As it struggled to stay standing, it droned a long growl in pain, refusing to give up.

Descending from above, the alakazam landed between the vulnerable glaceon, joltik and metagross. She was steaming and the life orb attached to her was vibrating, glowing red from heavy use. Even so, the alakazam herself was not out of breath and stood like she was invincible. Knowing that Vice Vora was actually far too injured to fight, she sorted the joltik issue first, using Psychic to levitate the little bugs and brutally compress the fluids out of their rectums. The sight made Beryl scream.

Despite its major injuries, Vice Vora still attempted to approach the battle, but was simply hit away by a beautiful green ball of light from the alakazam. The attack suddenly grew plants all around the metagross and knocked it spiralling off the rooftop, yelling in anger as it fell.

'We're out of here!' said the alakazam, helping Glim up and using her psychic to lift Angel onto her shoulder.

Beryl ran to the alakazam who offered her hand and when everybody was huddled, she picked up everybody up in telekinesis and flew straight off the roof and into the darkness that was Hydrangea City. The buildings were very high, but so few of them even had lights on. It looked more like that the four pokemon were flying through a dark woods filled by colossal square shaped trees. None of the street lights were on and it was far too cold for fires to remain burning unless it was fuelled to the point of ablaze, which some buildings and flats were. Glim had not expected much, knowing that Hydrangea was highly effected by the revolution.

'Glim! Beryl!' called the alakazam, trying to keep their momentum. 'Magnezone, behind us.'

The braixen and glaceon spun round within the psychic flight to spot a diving oval shaped machine pokémon, standing out due to the thin moonlight reflecting off its shiny body. Even though Sergeant was not so fast, its diving manoeuvre was working as it was catching up to the fugitives. The magnezone raised its front magnets as its antenna glowed, it then fired a wave of lightning, which was blocked by a sudden wall of light, created by the braixen, holding his wand ahead of him. The wall was vibrating from the attack and discharging electricity as they flew, while Glim inhaled deeply and blew out a freezing wind in attempt to slow down the Magnezone. The sergeant ascended, fully dodging the Icy Wind attack and retaliating with a huge burst of electricity that was suppressed by Beryl's Light Screen, but carried on and zapped everyone in the air. The braixen and glaceon squeaked in pain, while the alakazam lightly grunted and slowed down, leaving Sergeant to zoom ahead.

'Must I do everything myself?' said she angrily, making her life orb glow brightly again.

The magnezone swiftly flew in a U-turn, somewhat surprised to see the fugitives still airborne. The alakazam fired a black and purple ball of shadows like a bullet.

'Oh shi-' said Sergeant suddenly exploding while it tried a pathetic attempt to dodge.

The magnezone was hurled back, seemingly in one piece and disappearing into the dark streets below. Without a word, the alakazam continued her flight and took a left turn, losing any Republic officers who may had still been tailing them.

* * *

Somewhere, in a dark neighbourhood, the alakazam finally landed after five straight minutes of telekinetic flying. Even though the night sky had the faint tint of purple revealing the silhouettes of the nearby buildings, the streets were pitch black.

'It's around here.' said the alakazam. 'Beryl, could you?'

'Oh, yes yes.' replied the braixen, raising his wand which lit up a large flame, revealing the deserted street, a tiny park and a small toy shop named Rein ne dure.

The rest of the street were mostly houses, one convenience store and a pub on the end. The street was a dead end, but the buildings still looked inhabitable despite their conditions. Beryl and Glim seemed interested at first, before noticing the alakazam had lightly knocked on the door of the toy store. The braixen and glaceon rushed over and saw Angel struggling to lift himself, still lying injured on the alakazam's shoulder.

'It's us.' grunted Angel. 'Let us in yo.'

The big wooden door creaked opened, revealing Karli, the shiny kirlia from Iris to be answering. She was not alone, as Karli was accompanied by Gina the pikachu from the same dress shop Glim had visited.

'Angel!' said Karli, trying to keep her voice down. 'Come in, come in.'

The peeking pikachu kept the door open as the alakazam entered, followed by Beryl and Glim who Karli had then noticed.

'Hey!' she said, pointing at him with a surprised expression. 'Are you Glim?'

The same glaceon did recognise the kirlia, but forgot her name, so he just nodded. Karli proceeded to hug Glim tightly.

'What?' said Gina, lightly closing the door. 'The same one who bought that dress? No way!' she chuckled happily and joining Karli and hugging the little glaceon.

At the counter of the ruined toy store, the alakazam sat Angel down, who was still holding his ribs and staring at Glim.

'Oh god, of course!' blurted Angel, catching the attention of the three pokémon who were still cuddling. 'I thought I recognised you! You were that glaceon I helped into Lopunny Cove, a few nights ago, right?'

'Hold still.' interrupted the alakazam, levitating a medical kit to the counter.

'I didn't know you were a dude though.'

'Angel?' called the high voice of a child, jumping from step to step and coming down to the store below.

The child was Belle, a budew, sounding excited as she clumsily rushed down the olden stairs.

'You can thank Jane for that.' said Glim, replying to Angel as he and the two girls broke their group hug.

'Hey Belle! I'm a little fucked up right now.' chuckled the sneasel.

'Angel language!' said Gina.

'Wait, what happened?' asked Karli, approaching the counter.

'We got attacked by a freaking metagross.' answered Angel.

'What you did back there was incredibly reckless.' said the alakazam. 'Vice Vora was over level fifty and judging by your injuries, it used Hammer Arm against you. Was it distracted?'

'Yeah, I managed to hit it and remove its lens, which is when it hit me back.'

'You're lucky that didn't kill you. Your left shoulder and ribs are all fractured.'

'Oh my god.' said Karli.

The alakazam telekinetically removed a lantern from the ceiling and placed it next to the sneasel and looked over at Beryl who was silently standing nearby, holding his flaming wand. Quickly understanding what she wanted, the braixen placed the flame within the lantern, sharing its light. Belle approached the counter, looking up at Angel. The alakazam fully bandaged Angel's torso and strapped a small harness around his shoulder.

'Bones do not heal easily Angel, even for pokémon. However, we can support bones into regeneration and even encourage. But it will all take time.'

'I know.' muttered Angel.

The alakazam reached for her little bag that was strapped to the back of the harness holding her life orb at her torso. From the bag, she held out a unique claw, which looked like it came from a dead dinosaur, which had a beautiful set of colours, glistening down the long white nails.

'One of the best methods of healing, you probably know, is evolution.'

'That's not an actual razor claw, is it?' asked Angel, seemingly shocked.

The alakazam fitted the unique claw onto the working arm of the sneasel, whose mood had become a little gracious as he and Belle kept staring at it. The pretty nails were reflecting the light from the lantern and Beryl's flame.

'You're not going to evolve immediately, so I highly recommend you stay out of any fights until you evolve.' said the alakazam, taking steps back. 'And I'm afraid my work is done.'

Everyone looked at the alakazam with confused or shocked looks, realising she meant that she was going to leave.

'Oh.' stuttered Gina.

'So you're not actually a survivor like us?' asked Karli.

'That is up to you to decide.' said the alakazam, looking at no one. 'I was sent to rescue him.' she said, turning to face Glim.

'Me? Why did you even save me anyway?'

'Long story short Glim… you can do something we can't.'

The room fell silent, the little glaceon just stared with a very confused and saddened expression.

'What the hell's that supposed to mean?'

'Karli could I speak to you, outside?'

'U-uh certainly miss.' stuttered Karli, just as confused as Glim.

'I will be taking my leave now. So best of luck.' said the alakazam, heading for the door.

'Well- well bye then.' said Angel, a little disappointed to see her leave.

'Bye, thanks for everything!' said Beryl so gratefully.

'Bye!' said Gina and Belle happily, but like Angel, they too hoped that the alakazam would remain a dependable bodyguard for them.

Glim however just paused watching the mysterious alakazam just pass him. He knows he should be grateful for being rescued from the death camp, but deep down, he knows he did not want to escape, he did not want to be part of the revolution any more, not after hearing of his friends dying because of him. Yet it seemed he was getting pushed back into it.

'Belle, you should be getting to bed.' said Gina happily, bending down to the little plant pokémon.

'No! I don't wanna!' she replied, stomping her little toes.

'Yeah come on B.' said Angel sliding off the counter and onto his feet. 'It's about ten now, I'm going to bed.'

'Oh okay.'

The budew jumped up as Angel easily caught her on the fitted claw. He took one look at Glim, Gina and Beryl, before moving to the stairs.

'If you guys aren't coming up, we'll see you tomorrow morning, alright?'

'No no, I'm coming.' replied Gina. 'Just a few things to do.' She said, suddenly twitching and glancing at the braixen behind her. 'Oh sorry sweetheart! We didn't get your name.'

'My name is Beryl.' he said, bowing like a dancer, making the pikachu giggle.

'You remind me of my boyfriend.' Gina casually replied, but then she gasped, looking away. 'Oh no, oh no.' she stuttered, holding her paws over her face as she tried desperately to fight something.

'A-are you alright?'

Gina paused silently, her face hidden away from both Beryl and Glim. The pikachu then inhaled which had the very recognisable tone of resisting to cry.

'Oh sweetheart,' said Beryl. 'Did something happen to him?'

'Beryl,' whispered Glim. 'She came from Iris, which got Dragon Raided.'

Gina could not hold her pain any longer and lightly sobbed, while Beryl had a sympathetic expression and leaned forward to hug the pikachu. Beryl had somehow forgotten his arm was still encased in web, which he did not remember until his arms were around the little mouse pokémon.

'Whoops. Um…'

The glaceon meanwhile decided to leave those two and wanted to find if Karli and the alakazam were still outside.

* * *

Having been in the darkness for so long, the dark street was more visible to the two psychic pokémon. They were only a few metres away from Rein ne dure, but were talking very quietly. The alakazam was crouching to see the little kirlia on eye level.

'I-I have one, you know.' stuttered Karli.

The alakazam paused, giving her an empathetic look of sorrow.

'My leader spoke about you, Karli.' she said, with a completely more feminine voice. 'But, they said that of which you already know, sweetheart.'

The kirlia raised the stone that was in her hand, which was a beautiful dawn stone.

'But… is it possible?'

'Karli…' she replied, placing her hands on the kirlia's shoulders. 'You will never become a female gallade, it is a virtual impossibility. At least, right now.'

Karli closed her eyes and sighed, holding her dawn stone tightly.

'Though it is not impossible for you to become a gallade. But of course, that would mean getting a sex change, which is possible mind you. But-'

'I can't go through that.' whispered Karli, shaking her head.

'Of course. The trouble is, especially with the dawn stone is apparently, it responds to the hormone levels of any snorunt or kirlia, which it then dramatically enhances it. Like a steroid, it majorly improves the body in its own way, but can also destroy it. People are trying to achieve feats of impossibility, like… male florges, a cascoon evolving into a beautifly. Those are things that have been achieved and a female gallade, I am sure is on that list too.' said the alakazam, reaching for her bag again and taking out what looked like a purple stone. 'However, my leader did request me to give you this.'

The stone was placed on the left hand of the saddened kirlia, who examined it, with a question in the way she looked at it.

'They call it an eviolite. I do not know how, but my leader tells me if a pokémon holds that, who can still evolve, the holder becomes so much tougher. Which I think suits you Karli.' she said winking. 'Despite your dilemma and desire, you don't shed tears.'

Suddenly the alakazam reached her arm out, sounding an echoing droning noise as she did. From the opened door of the toy store, Glim was pulled out and levitated toward the two ladies. He was struggling, unaware that it was the alakazam dragging him to them.

'It is rude to eavesdrop, Glim.'

'I-I was waiting to speak to you.' uttered Glim.

The glaceon was dropped in place, right next to Karli, who seemed uninterested and just staring at the eviolite.

'You want to know why I know your name.' said the alakazam. 'And why out of all prisoners, I was to rescue you and Beryl and on top of that, who I am.'

Glim paused awkwardly, as that was exactly what he wanted to know, but the fact the alakazam got all of his questions right in one guess and so calmly made him angry.

'There, it happened again! You knew everything I was going to ask. How is it you know me!'

'That right there was just me reading your mind. As for the rest of your questions…' the alakazam sighed. 'You, will find out overtime. I have to go.'

Both Karli and Glim stayed looking up at the alakazam who finally stood up. She seemed so different to most alakazam, the way she stood and spoke and because she had no moustache, she was so much more feminine. Her personality and seriousness was much like a gardevoir.

'And Glim. We're sorry.' she said, shortly before completely disappearing in a strange light.

The glaceon, just stood still, wondering what the alakazam was apologising for. Karli meanwhile looked at Glim just next to her and then turned round to head back into the store, where they were residing.


	7. Wanted dead for being

Chapter 7  
'Wanted dead for being'

* * *

Before Karli went to bed, leaving the pitch black lower floor, she stopped on the stairs and made one last look to see Glim close the door to the Rein ne dure. Seeing that the little glaceon had made the tough decision in what to evolve into, Karli gave one peek at her dawn stone, before looking back at Glim.

'Hey Glim?' said Karli, her face was a mix of hopelessness, depression and care.

'Yes?'

Glim awkwardly paused, staring at Karli, while the floor above them appeared lit up, judging from the light coming the stairs. The only light downstairs was the lantern that Beryl lit earlier, which was dying down. The braixen, sneasel, budew and pikachu were upstairs, calling it a night, though by the sounds of upbeat talk and laughter, it sounded as if the friends were trying to get the web off Beryl's arm, which was also on Gina's back after their hug. Every ten seconds, they would both yelp as the web would rip off their fur, even with the techniques to soften the very sticky web.

'Can I ask you, Glim, why you chose to become a glaceon? I remember when you bought that dress, you didn't want to talk about why you evolved.' said Karli, moving down the stairs, but not moving any closer to the glaceon. 'Unlike most pokémon, you eeveelutions have the choice. You're not bound by gender or difficult methods of travel, which in a way, does make your decision even tougher, since you have so many choices.' she said, approaching the little glaceon. 'So why glaceon, Glim?'

The little glaceon had his usual sad expression and looked down.

'I don't want to talk about it.'

Just as Glim finished his sentence he tried to pass Karli, who stood in his way. She, like the glaceon before her had a saddened expression, like she was worried for him.

'Wait…' she said, placing her hands over Glim's shoulders. 'You can tell me sweetheart.'

'No I can't.'

'You did want to evolve into a glaceon, right?'

'I said I don't want to talk about it!' repeated Glim, weakly knocking Karli's hands away from him. The kirlia stared at him in shock, with a hint of frustration, while the glaceon refrained from giving her eye contact. 'I-I'm sure you could understand. But… well, you say we aren't bound by gender. How many sylveon do you see, male?'

Karli wanted to answer, but she had never seen a male sylveon before. She had forgotten there were some pokémon evolutions that were very often avoided by specific genders. Sylveon was one of them, along with gardevoir, gorebyss and bellossom, which were hated to be male pokémon, by other males, despite the sexual fantasies often portrayed in the Day Care Couple magazines. Not that female pokémon had it any better, it seemed that males would demonize female machamp, alakazam and swampert too. In answering Glim's question, Karli did not want to put down his feelings.

'I'm sure there is one somewhere, Glim. There is nothing-'

'Wrong?' answered Glim angrily, glaring at the shiny kirlia, getting somewhat violent. 'Just- just don't worry about it. It wasn't why I evolved into a glaceon anyway. And I don't want to talk about that either, I'm sorry.' he said storming off as Karli just watched.

* * *

During the night, the lights that were lit by Beryl's flame had died down and everybody had fallen into a deep sleep. There were thankfully enough thick blankets for everyone. Belle wanted to share the blanket of her hero sneasel she looked up to, while everyone else slept in their own blankets, all of which were a deep navy. The attic room may have seemed homely, but it had that unmistakable feel that the outside world was a warzone, even if their street seemed relatively quiet. The one window was tightly sealed, with two planks of wood poorly covering the window which still showed the dark light of the miserable midnight sky. Even though the old window was closed, the sounds of violent pokémon shouting and smashing of metal and walls were still audible in the distance. The noises were not so frequent during the night, however the darkness was taken advantage by members of both the Crimson, trying to win the city back and the Republic when on their routinely hunts. The worst noise to hear were the screams of death. A pokémon screaming in pain was common in times of revolution or war, but one could always tell when someone was screaming in their moment of death. The sound was psychologically scarring to hear, for any pokémon sensitive. Glim was one of those pokémon, having trouble sleeping and just lying with his eyes open, facing the wall in front of him. He kept looking at the torn wall paper and kept imagining, that the room they were in was once a bedroom. Judging by the colourful flowery patterns, it may have been a little girl's room. The little glaceon wondered what that girl would feel to see that room as it was then, when they were sheltering themselves from the cruel world outside.

'You were not very nice to the kirlia, Glim.' said the voice of a grown female.

The glaceon, not realising that he had fallen asleep recognised the voice. It was the same one who spoke to him when the vileplume put him to sleep.

'It's you again.'

'Yes.'

'Who are you?'

'Your behaviour had been… less than lively when that alakazam generously broke you out of that death camp. In fact, you felt as if you did not want to leave, like you wanted to die.'

'I was not afraid to.'

'Glim, you did your best to save your friends.'

'I ended up getting them killed.'

'As your braixen friend said, Glim, it was the Republic who decided to Dragon Raid the island. You risked your life trying to please Prince Snowdrop and even got cut up, trying to persuade him. If your friends saw that, they would never have blamed you.'

Glim stayed quiet for a moment.

'Your friend Karli.' continued the female. 'You already feel for her. You know she wants to become a gallade. But she also hates the idea of becoming a boy to do so. That is like climbing a ladder, to escape a fire, but someone keeps building the wall slightly too high, just because they do not like her. You know very well what that is like Glim.'

The glaceon remained quiet again.

'Your friends are heading to Haine, Glim.' she continues. 'Your friends Angel, Beryl and Karli are keen to join the CR again. Yes, they were already members or thinking about it. So stick with them, little glaceon. One day, you will realise something far too important to ignore now.'

'What?'

'One side has to fall, as Jane says, yes. Except only one side can bring peace, post revolution, Glim. That side is the Crimson Revolution. If the Republic were to win, Crio will still fall. The neighbouring regions will refuse to bail the prime minister out from the damage he did to his own region, which will eventually fall into another revolution, for blood and survival.'

'But what can I do about it?'

'Stay with your friends.' said the female, happily.

The little glaceon paused for a while, before whispering 'okay', knowing that was the end of their conversation. He was about to ask the name of who he was speaking to again, before being nudged slightly by something very soft and delicate.

'Glim, wake up.' whispered Beryl.

Still only seeing a pitch black void, Glim did hear the voice of the sweet braixen, but felt as if he had no energy to respond. Until suddenly, Angel screamed very loudly, jolting the glaceon from his slumber and straight onto his bottom, sitting in a daze, still half asleep. The sneasel and budew standing next to him then chuckled. Beryl meanwhile, who seemed jumped from the manly scream, as he was kneeling close to Glim and looking back at Angel.

'Sorry lady-boys.' said Angel, grinning. 'It's six AM and things will start to get hectic in Hydrangea if we don't move around now.'

From where Glim was sat, recovering his senses, Beryl lightly took hold of his paws and pulled the dazed glaceon from the blankets and onto all fours. Glim noticed that neither Karli nor Gina were present upstairs. Angel picked up Belle, with his uninjured claw in a heroic manner, when really he was trying to ignore the pain of severely damaged ribs and proceeded to the stairs.

'We'll see you downstairs, okay?' called the sneasel.

'What's going on?' said Glim, asking Beryl.

'Angel and the others are going to Hydrangea harbour, to catch the next evacuation ferry, over to Camellias Island.'

'Aren't they going to Haine?'

'We are, but, Freesia's off limits after what happened to Gerbera, and Crio's three lakes have massively fortified due to what is happening in Haine. So we're going to have to take the long way round.'

'Oh right.' replied Glim, nodding.

The agreeable tone from the glaceon came as a surprise to the braixen who shot Glim a rather cute look of curiosity.

'S-so, you're coming?'

'Yeah.' said Glim, seeming confused.

'Oh good.' replied Beryl happily. 'It's just, yesterday, you seemed so… well. A-and the others said you won't want to come.'

'Well I am.' answered Glim, with an unexpected, determined expression.

* * *

Downstairs, Gina and Karli had a map laid out on the counter, it only covered Hydrangea City, being the fourth biggest city in Crio at three miles long. It was also a coastal city like Iris Town, which was eighteen miles southwest. In their current location, the next destination for the six friends was north, to Hydrangea harbour, to ferry to their next destination, fifteen miles away.

'Camellias Island.' said Karli, tapping the edge of the island that peered on the edge of their tourist map. 'Ever been there?'

'No.' replied Gina, frowning.

'Neither.' said Karli, shaking her head. 'Apparently… well we already knew it was a holiday resort.'

'Yeah, yeah.'

'But now, it is a refugee zone. Once there, you should be safe.'

'Yeah, "should" be safe.' replied Gina, finishing her sentence shaking her head sadly. 'We don't need tickets do we?'

Before the kirlia could answer the pikachu, Angel came downstairs, catching Karli's attention.

'Raring t'go?' asked Angel.

'I'm more interested in how you're getting us to the harbour.' replied Karli, frowning back at the map, which was covered in annotations of warnings. 'Most of the city are real danger zones, especially the city centre.'

'That's why we're not going through the city centre.' answered Angel, standing right to the kirlia, also looking at the map. 'But, we will have to go through the subway tunnels.'

'The tunnels?' repeated Karli, disdainfully.

'Yes.'

'Why is the name crossed out and replaced with "spiders are sexy"?'

'I-I don't know.' chuckled Angel. 'The map's not mine anyway. Besides, it's only a mile or so and the harbour's there.'

As they spoke, two boys were coming down the stairs next to them. Karli and Gina looked up at the descending glaceon. The kirlia had an expression that looked curious and somewhat surprised, to see Glim appear so serious. Unlike every other time Karli saw him, his face lacked the determination he had then.

'You're coming too Glim?' asked Gina.

'Of course.' he replied. 'And I'm not stopping at Camellias.'

That statement made Angel glance at the little glaceon, seemingly interested, but was actually surprised.

'So, you're coming with us to Haine?' asked Angel.

Glim nodded.

'In the past few weeks, the Republic refused to rescue me, bombed my hometown, bombed an island who were willing to befriend me, killing my friends in the process, interrogated me, threatening to kill me and threw me in prison.' said Glim, pausing angrily. 'I think I know what side I should join. And after hearing of all the crap they have done, from blaming to hunting dark type pokémon, to executing pokémon out of hatred. I can see now, why the Crimson started their rebellion. They weren't just some pissed off thugs as I thought them to be. They're standing up for what's right.'

During Glim's speech, Gina could not help sympathising, having also lost someone so dear to her. Karli ironically looked cheery, thankful for the glaceon to not have given up. The sneasel meanwhile kept his expression of dry interest.

'You've only just figured that out?' asked Angel.

Karli interjected 'well, when you've lost friends-'

'I know, I know. I've lost friends too.'

While the kirlia and sneasel spoke, Gina approached Glim and hugged him. The little glaceon did not break down or hug back in deep joy. He and the pikachu were sharing there each other's compassion over their losses. Glim's expression only resembled grief and reassurance.

* * *

The mornings were always freezing at that time, even with the clouds blocking out the sky. The cold was comforting for most ice type pokémon, but Angel dressed up in his usual thin shady trench coat, so little Belle could stay a little warmer in his backpack. Being a little plant pokémon, Belle who was in danger to the cold was ironically safer away from her hero sneasel, yet she refused to leave him. It did make Angel have to adapt to responsibilities, but as cool as he is, even with a broken claw and ribcage, the sneasel was quick to adapt. During the run from the old toy store, the six friends had trailed down an alley, where Belle stuck her buds out, to get a feel of the present situation. Glim had noticed the budew and for the first time wondered how she ended up being in Angel's care.

The group were on the last street, before entering Malaise Park, which was a rather big local park for children. At least, it was made for the interest of children, but when the friends entered, the input sense of country was replaced with carnage. Two houses were blown to rubble, some of which were crashed over a corner of the park. The ground was torn up in several locations, along with the body of a giant aggron lying on its left side. Nearby was a house that had clearly been ablaze with several dead bug pokémon just lying outside of it, the only body that seemed intact was a leavanny, who was left lying over the bodies of younger pokémon. The sight was horrible, but with the occasional bang noises in the distance, the massacres were still in motion.

Despite the scene and sight, Angel at front only took two glances left and right, before leaping over the fence to the park, whispering 'go, go, go' as he did. The glaceon, kirlia and pikachu followed the slick sneasel having to climb over the fence for being so small, while Beryl also jumped flamboyantly over the fence, like he was in some performance. Angel had already ran ahead, near to the other side of the park. When the four friends attempted to catch up, passing the corpse of the aggron which had its back to them, Beryl could not help but look, only to see the beast's iron helmet completely crumpled into its head. There was a whole puddle of blood under its head, like it got hit directly by a falling iron ball. The forearm was missing from the aggron but most upsettingly, it seemed to be trying to protect a little aron and cranidos that laid dead just in front of it. Seeing the bodies made the braixen quickly glance away, shocked and sorrowful.

After the horrific detour, the four friends had caught up with Angel and Belle who stopped just outside what appeared to be an underground passage, ones pedestrians would use to going under roads and avoiding transportation vehicles. The entrance was sealed by a folding metal fence and by the state of it, it looked like it had been sealed off for years. The sneasel was picking at the lock until it clicked open after little effort and pushed the creaking folding fence. Judging by the tenseness of Angel's push, the fence appeared to be rather stiff. Ahead of them laid a flight of stairs and a left turn into complete darkness.

* * *

Down underground, what felt like an abyss, the only source of light appeared down an elongated corridor, which Angel confirmed to be the entrance for the trains into the tunnel, which was where they were heading.

'Angel?' asked Glim, breaking the silence.

'Yo.'

'Can I ask you about Belle?'

'You're probably wondering how I ended up taking her into my care.'

'Yes actually.'

'Well, it was also when Karli and I met as well.'

'We had met before, though.' interjected Karli.

'Yeah, yeah, but it was a few- no, yesterday! We all got together and made it to Hydrangea.'

'Oh god, yeah,' said Glim. 'The Dragon Raiding of Iris and Lilac was only yesterday. Holy crap it feels like it was days ago.'

'I know. But that morning when it happened, most of my flat was obliterated before the sirens even went off and I had just enough time to escape, my house at least. Just like Karli, I got hidden in a mass of rubble straight after. And when I got myself out, I did my best to find anybody else. That was pretty much how Belle and I met.'

'Yeah!' happily called the little budew from inside her bag. 'Angel saved me from my house falling down.'

Glim only looked at the rustling bag, interested about what happened to Belle's parents, but deciding not to ask. He had a similar thought for Gina and Karli as he looked back to them with an expression of concern. The glaceon wanted to ask if they were the only survivors from the dress shop, but was again afraid to ask.

Emerging from the tunnel the four could immediately see the sea, but as they were still on train tracks, the path they were on were was boxed either by walls or chain linked fences. However on the next right turn, following the track around a hill, Angel spotted Hydrangea harbour and a low ledge that was neighbouring the tracks, which was a road leading to the harbour. The sneasel began to rush as he saw the harbour, swiftly climbing the ledge and frequently looking back for his friends. Glim, Beryl, Karli and Gina were easily following Angel, as if he was their leader as he ran ahead, but only so fast to not leave them behind. The glaceon could see why he was running, at the port there was only one ferry, and there was an unmistakable crowd just huddle in one small area on the dock.

'There's only one ship!' shouted Karli. 'What the hell!'

'Once we're on it, the Republic aren't catching us.' said Angel, slowing to run alongside his allies.

It did not take long for the crew to catch up to the crowds who were mostly pokémon who could not swim or were disabled, injured or elderly. Glim and his friends were uncannily at the back, however the pokémon swarming on board was not slowed at any rate, meaning there was still plenty of room and that the doors to the deck had only just opened. Angel noticed that the vessel was one long deck, often used for evacuations from dangerous locations, which is why it has so few levels, in case the ship was to sink, the option to float, swim, fly or be rescued was still an option without anybody getting trapped.

On the deck were hundreds of pokémon ranging from all kinds of species and types. Very few of them were water or flying as they usually had their own advantage of escape. Being the last individuals to board, the hitmonchan and pangoro guarding the bridge to the deck made quick, but thorough checks on each of the friends. They did not like Angel, demanding him to take off his coat and revealing what was in his bag, being a dark type pokémon did not ease them any quicker either. However, the sneasel was very calm and quick to cooperate as he followed their demands. The bouncer's nerves calmed when they figured he was friends with the children behind him and that he had a broken arm. Instead of an explosive weapon being hidden in his bag, Belle the budew happily hopped out, relieving the guards, who looked back at the desperate pokémon behind Angel.

'Foster father?' asked the hitmonchan.

'No, just… helping.' answered Angel.

The pangoro nodded, believing but still intimidating the crew and gestured for them to come on board.

'We'll be leaving in five.' said the giant panda pokémon, as Glim made the first step onto the vessel, followed by everyone else.

The sneasel was the last of his friends to board the ship, having to carefully put his coat on his shoulder whilst watching his little budew friend scamper after the others. There was more room than expected, but the place seemed chaotic, most of the pokémon were comforting others or arguing about leaving or staying. Judging by the ones who were arguing, most of the male pokémon were talking about keeping the safety of their family while they would come back to Hydrangea or leaving for Haine. Some were only complaining about the cold or not liking to sail. Karli and Glim did not stray far, while Beryl, Belle and Gina waited for Angel. They looked for a spot to sit, but seeing that most of the crowd were just sat where they were, it did not seem that they were going to find luxurious spa beds any time soon. Knowing that Belle needed to keep warm more than any of them, Gina suggested to sit close in a circle, so when Angel joined the two girls with Beryl were already sat down surrounding the little bud pokémon. Glim however understood the intention and sat behind Beryl and Karli. The sneasel patted the little glaceon, as he took one step heading away from his friends.

'I'm gonna look around, okay?' said Angel, winking to his friends. 'I'll be right back.'

'Okay Angel.' said Karli, while Glim only nodded. 'Wait, can we borrow your coat?'

Before he left, the sneasel passed his coat over to the kirlia, who then wrapped the little budew in the coat, letting her face and buds stick out. Her usual green had turned much darker and felt strangely sturdier as Karli wrapped the coat around her. While she did, Belle could not help but try to speak while her mouth became masked, making her friends smile.

'This'll keep you warm Belle.'

'Wait a minute…' said Beryl, looking around him. 'Would I be okay to…?'

'What?'

The braixen drew his beautiful wand from his tail and lit it, creating a small flame and held it just between himself and Gina.

'Ooh that's better, thanks.' said Gina.

'Excuse me madam.' said the pangoro guard to Beryl, appearing behind Glim. 'You'll be careful with that okay?'

'Y-yes sir.' replied Beryl sheepishly.

'We're just trying to keep this one warm.' Karli interjected, stroking the budew between them.

'I know.' replied the pangoro, nodding. 'Incidentally can you light something of mine? Not a lot of fire types on board.' He said holding out a retro lantern which was strapped to the side of his belt.

'Oh of course sir.' answered Beryl, placing the flaming side of his wand in the lantern and setting light to the candle.

The pangoro thanked the braixen quickly and left, headed through the crowd toward the cabin. Seeing the lantern and structure of the ship, Karli did notice that the vessel was surprisingly outdated.

'I'm no sailor, but isn't this a SF ferry?'

SF stood for stunfisk, for its flat design and offering its passengers a wide sky view, but was more famously known for its endurance as it was originally designed for wading supplies through ice and treacherous swamps. It was probably why that vessel was being used as a civilian escape vessel, having survived whatever the revolution may have done to it, unlike any other design of ferry.

Since the pangoro guard had passed by, Glim looked back, to see if the gates onto the vessel had closed. Even with several percentage of the crowd sitting down, the little glaceon still could not see the gates, masked by much taller pokémon, like an ursaring, clefable, a garchomp couple and a lopunny with a pachirisu and zigzagoon. Glim did notice one of the lighthouses very close to the harbour and that is was nudging slowly to the left. Suddenly a horn blared very loudly, making the five friends jump. Beryl squeaked like a pichu, while Karli only tensed.

'I think we're moving.' blurted Karli.

* * *

Much further at the hull of the ship, which was surprisingly long, Angel was passing through, curious to know if he can be of any help, even though he only had one claw. Like what Glim saw, most of the citizens were refugees evacuating to safety who were trapped in the warzone of the city. One linoone was frantically asking around if anybody was a midwife or a doctor, which caught the attention of not only Angel but a lot of pokémon nearby who were hearing the unsettling groans of another linoone going into labour. As much as the sneasel would like to help, he was neither a midwife or in condition to help in that scenario. Thankfully some middle-aged kadabra passed Angel confirming of his medical experience and offered to help. He followed the desperate linoone through the crowd, which Angel was having trouble seeing over. However, he was reluctant to get in anyone's way and continued his check. Angel then stopped, near the very front of the vessel at the sight of a familiar electivire leaning on the barricade.

'Alexander?' asked Angel.

Hearing his name, the enormous electrical pokémon glanced back, surprised but with a hint hope in his eyes. That hope is then turned into annoyance as he just as quickly recognised the sneasel before him.

'Angel?' said Alexander as the sneasel approached, neither of them looking pleased and awkwardly paused for a moment. 'I would Hammer Arm you right now, but I see someone's already beaten me to it.'

Suddenly Angel burst out laughing.

'Y'know, funnily enough, my arm was done in by a metagross using Hammer Arm.'

'Why is that funny?' replied Alexander, shaking his head.

The sneasel quickly stopped and then had an awkward smile, knowing his attempt to cheer the mood was not going to work.

'Well… I'm not going to cry whenever I lose something. I like to move on whenever my shit hits the fan.'

'When you say 'move on' you mean run away.' said Alexander and suddenly Angel's expression slowly got more serious. 'Who'd you smuggle in this time?'

'Hey!' interrupted Angel. 'Do you think I'm committing a crime, all the time? Look at me, my arm's fucked and I'm armed to evolve. And I've had a pretty rough day yesterday.'

'Same, what happened?'

'Well, we both were survivors of Iris' Dragon Raid presumably.' said Angel, gesturing at himself and the electivire.

'Yep.'

'But that's when I stayed to help Belle, Karli and her friend to get over here. And just when I find shelter, some bitch alakazam gives me all this 'you're the future' crap, making me bail two chicks, who turned out to be dudes. And then got my ass kicked by some hard as hell meta! Five lives, in one day and did I get laid that night, fuck no!'

'Are they with you now?'

'Yes, they're huddling back there for warmth. Including that glaceon that I… did smuggle in day's ago.' said Angel pointing behind him and chuckling guiltily.

'Yeah, that's why I was keen to beat the hell out of you. We knew immediately when you two went in different directions. We weren't stupid.'

'Yep.'

'And by the time Ford and I gave up looking for ya, a fight had broken out just outside the Cove! My boss was pissed!'

'Be honest. Does that really matter now?'

The electivire paused. 'No… it's just been edgy is all.' He said, calming down and turning to lean over the fence again. 'So you actually helped five people get here?'

'Yeah,' replied Angel, only leaning on his injured side against the fence. 'I didn't smuggle them in… we-'

'It wouldn't have mattered if you did.'

* * *

Far above, the pace of the evacuation vessel was visibly fast, half way to its destination over seven miles away. But from the air approached three figures moving faster. In the middle was Sergeant the magnezone, accompanied by two hydreigon. Sergeant made several radio noises from its antenna and the hydreigon began their descent to the vessel. Meanwhile Sergeant charged up its two front magnets and fired a bright rainbow laser into the sea just in front of the ship, signalling it to stop. Being such a bright laser, it was very hard to miss as Glim, Beryl, Gina, Karli, Angel and Alexander all saw it and immediately glanced up, just in time to see the two hydreigon swoop down with very disturbing roars. The people on board began to sicken, complain or even panic. They knew the Republic were coming to survey the ship, which does not always mean they will let it pass. Unwilling to lose his passengers, the swampert captain stops his engines and sulks angrily.

The five friends stood up, convinced they were under attack. Glim then spots the magnezone as it descended over the crowd and faced the bridge, while the captain appeared to be yelling at it. The crowd was not quieting down and was also complaining at Sergeant, saying very anti Republic phrases and all manner of insults. The little glaceon feared if it was here for him and Beryl.

'Attention everyone!' called Sergeant, speaking through some filter that raised its voice. 'I am not here to bring harm. But this vessel has been boarded by two criminals that had escaped Hydrangea's Royal Talon Prison.' Hearing that made Glim cower behind Karli, who seemed uncaring that he was also looking up her skirt. 'The Republic have only sent me to reclaim these two individuals, so we would appre-'

During its last statement, the crowd began muttering again.

'Yeah?' yelled a marowak. 'What were these "criminals" prisoned for?'

A lopunny screamed 'we've had it with your revolution!'

'I order you to cooperate!' replied the magnezone loudly, while the two massive hydreigon glided to his sides and glared back. 'Now, I understand what the Republic are doing. But no one here, wants to die, correct? I have been ordered, simply, to arrest the glaceon and the braixen, both males. I would appreciate-'

'It's not going to happen!' yelled Angel, leaping into the open space that had formed and looked up at the floating magnezone.

Concerned about the other refugees turning against them, Beryl and Glim attempted to sneak back and hide in the cabin or something. They were then met by the pangoro guard just behind them who whispered to them to keep quiet and stood in front of the two. Meanwhile Sergeant descended, while the vicious dark dragons stayed above it.

'Are you not the sneasel who broke them out?' asked Sergeant, while Angel remained quiet. 'My colleague is in critical condition after your operation. We are merely following orders, so kindly-'

'Your "orders",' growled the mother lopunny, stepping forward. 'Are thoughtless demands from your sick heartless freak prime minister! Who ordered the deaths of so many of our families, including my son!'

The crowds resumed cussing and shouting at the magnezone, who remained silent and staring at Angel.

'I am afraid I am not leaving without the criminals, people.' said Sergeant.

'You want my friends, you're going to have to get through me first.' snarled Angel.

'And me!' shouted Alexander emerging from the crowd.

The crowds got louder in their shouting as Sergeant finally decided to ascend, oddly with a regrettable look in its eyes. While the crowd were yelling for the Republic crony to leave, Angel knew that look the sergeant had and was wondering what it was thinking. Most of the crowd did not notice, but Sergeant's antenna was lightly flashing, meaning it had received a message. The magnezone was not the only one to receive a message, the two hydreigon above also received it. The two evil dragons pulled wide grins and looked at each other.

'Mr prime minister… sir, I-' stuttered Sergeant glancing round, noticing that the hydreigon had begun their ascent. 'No!'

Immediately the magnezone unleashed a silver blast upward to either hydreigon. The dark dragon on the right took glimpse of the attack and quickly hissed for its ally to drift back, which was quick enough for both of them to dodge it. The same hydreigon countered just as quickly by beaming a stream of fire directly at the rebelling magnezone, which hit at an astonishing speed, leaving Sergeant no time to dodge at all. The Flamethrower shot the magnezone, screaming in agony through the ship's deck and disappearing beneath it. It was all happening so fast, the passengers did not know what to make of the scene. What some of them did realise, was that the hydreigon were likely given orders to use Draco Meteor and destroy the ship, which was why they took flight as their eyes and mouths began to glow.

'Oh god.' said Angel, turning round and running into the crowds to find his friends.

Rather quickly, the angry shouting of the pokémon turned into panic and rebellion as most of the crowd began to shove up against the fences desperate to cling on to something, while others took to the centre and already tried counter attacking whatever was about to hit them. Even the captain tried to start the engines and move the ship as quickly as he could. But very high up, away from the reach of any of the pokémon on board, the two hydreigon burst what looked like millions of fireworks, heading directly for the ship. It was impossible to not see, even with eyes closed. Glim was paralysed at the sight, while pokémon were rushing away or shooting up their own attacks trying to stop the rain of comets. Angel meanwhile had enough time to run up to Glim and Beryl.

'Belle!' called Angel, but then immediately, the Draco Meteors impacted, exploding all around the ship, blinding the glaceon and blowing him back.

For a moment, all Glim could hear, trapped in his dark void that was merely his eyes closed, were the sounds of mass hysteria and explosions. When his senses came back, the screaming was still happening, but the fierce rocking of the burning explosions was replacing unsettled by somehow relaxing waves. The little glaceon found himself woken up still on the ship which was on fire ahead of him. The damage to the vessel had not sunk into Glim's mind to tell him about how much danger he was in. All he saw ahead of him was actually the back of the bridge, while the rest of it was pointing downward slowly. The entire ship had been broken in half and craters were everywhere, all of which were burned black, some with traces of blood.

The carnage was not the first thing that caught Glim's attention when his vision and hearing returned. Lying on his back, his eyes were following the two creepy green lights that were floating near him. When the lights got closer to the little glaceon, he realised they were not lights, but two unown, pulsing their possessed, yet enraged eyes. Glim recognised the unown, they were part or servants of the Martyr being he had fought back in Iris.

'Oh my god.' said Glim, trying to stand.

When he stood he clearly heard the metal fence behind him get hit by something fierce that hissed just afterwards. The little glaceon jumped in fright and glanced round, to see the dead, enraged face of some kind of turquoise fish with stunning long ruby hair. Judging by the length of its body, it appeared to be some kind of snake pokémon too. Its eyes were a horrifying black that was melting liquid from it as the head was biting hard on the rail.

'Your decision to sail has doomed you and your friends!' screamed many voices through telepathy.

The fish let go of the rail, revealing four more unown levitating behind it. All of which flew away in adjacent directions. When the confrontation seemed to end, Glim spotted the two hydreigon whooshing through the air above him, fleeing the scene. He looked back to see the ship and multiple fragments of wreckage idly floating away and disappearing into the fog that had thickened.

The little glaceon knew that the vessel he was standing on was doomed to sink too and proceeded to look for something that was already afloat. On the vessel with him were a few pokémon who were shaking out of trauma, in particular children who were small enough to dodge the devastating Draco Meteors. Of the starboard side of the cabin, Alexander the electivire emerged, climbing up the tilted vessel. He was offering to help anybody who was too paralysed to move and was already carrying an unconscious pikachu on his shoulder, who happened to be Gina.

'Glim!' yelled Karli, from the opposite side and climbing back onto the sinking ship.

Glim tried to run down to help her, but as soon as he took his first step, a strange, terrifying and mechanical roar sounded from the sea below, followed by what sounded like a train, using the water as its tracks and zoomed into the remains of the vessel very loudly. Immediately the side of the ship was catapulted in the air, disintegrating instantly and somersaulting well over the other side of the destroyed ship. Glim, several metres away from Karli, Alexander and Gina was helplessly flung with the ship, finding himself stuck to the floor he was standing on, which luckily broke his fall on the hard water. The large wreckage sunk slightly before rising above sea level and remaining afloat. When he emerged, the little glaceon frantically looked around for his friends. But all he was seeing was the tremendously thick fog. Eerily the screams of pokémon had stopped.

There was no mistaking that whatever it was that hit the ship was another remnant of Martyr, which came to kill him. For that reason, Glim stayed quiet, hoping to be assumed dead from the previous attack.

Suddenly, a giant yellow arm lunged out of the water behind the glaceon and grabbed onto the huge fragment of wreckage. The heavy thud made Glim jump, turning to face it, instantly recognising it to be the arm of the electivire he saw only moments ago. Alexander partly pulled himself out of the water, appearing to be hurt, judging by his grunting. The glaceon rushed over to offer a paw, though the electivire was already on the wreckage. In his right hand was Gina, who was twitching but seemingly unharmed.

'Gina?' called Glim, scurrying around the pikachu to face her. 'Are you okay?'

Alexander rolled completely onto the floating floor, still grunting about the pain in his left shoulder, while Gina opened her eyes, shivering in place.

'G-Glim?'

'Come on, get up!' said Glim tucking his head beneath Gina's and easily lifting her back onto her hind legs.

The pikachu was barely standing and still frozen solid. The electivire meanwhile stood up, also looking around for any survivors. Gina was not responding, just staring into nothing, even with Glim giving her eye contact, but his leaning left to right confirmed that the pikachu was still frozen in fear. The glaceon placed his paws over her shoulders and lightly shook her.

'Gina, Gina!'

Nearby, the sound of a young girl gasping for air burst out of the water. Only looking to his right, Glim saw it was Karli, who seemed in one piece and pulling herself toward the safety of the wreckage. Even so, Alexander rushed over and offered his huge hand and pulled the little kirlia on board. She was also grunting in pain, though it seemed to not be of an injury.

'Oh my god, that water is freezing!' growled Karli.

'Are you alright?' asked Alexander.

'Yeah, yeah.' nodded Karli, but then pointed at the water. 'But there is something down there, and, it, is, huge!'

Knowing what the kirlia was referring to, Glim had a more desperate expression, gazing back at the pikachu and shook her one last time.

'Gina?' he said angrily, but when he still got no reply, the glaceon rose his paw and slapped Gina, pushing her over. The pikachu squeaked, holding her cheek, while Karli and Alexander both glanced at the two. 'Snap out of it!' he cried, worryingly.

'Glim stop!' said Karli, running between them and kneeling in front of Gina.

'We're going to need everyone for what is about to happen!'

The kirlia, electivire and pikachu glanced at the frightened glaceon, who seemed so serious all of a sudden.

'Why- what's going to happen?' asked Alexander.

Before Glim could answer, something lunged out of the sea behind him. The sudden splash made the little glaceon react quick enough to glance back, to see the same terrifying fish face zoom right into his icy crown. The impact hurled Glim passed Gina and Karli, while Martyr bounced upward, hissing in pain. Reacting in fear, Gina screamed while Karli quickly waved her arm, forming four green leaves, while the giant electivire threw his arms forward and burst a stream of lightning. The attacks hit the long snake of Martyr, lightly pushing it back into the water. The glaceon meanwhile was quick to get back up, but was clearly dizzy from his clash. He was lucky it hit his ferociously tough crown of ice as the momentum even hurt the snake itself.

'What the hell was that!' yelled Karli.

'It looked like a milotic, I think.' blurted Alexander. 'Back to back!' he ordered, pacing backward.

The glaceon, kirlia and pikachu did not understand what Alexander meant by his instruction as they stood still, on the lookout. Karli meanwhile was staring at the tense glaceon.

'Glim, what was that?' she demanded.

'I said back to back!' repeated Alexander, stopping in front of the girls who suddenly understood the tactic and faced outward.

Glim joined the trio in their lookout stance, standing between Gina and Karli.

'I don't know what they are.' said Glim, shaking his head. 'They just call their selves "Martyr".'

'Whatever it is, stay on guard!' interrupted Alexander.

On the edge of visibility in the fog, the snake like fish suddenly rose its head out of the water, in sight of the giant electivire. Instantly his cable like tails erected, pulsing in electricity.

'There!' shouted Alexander, using Thunderbolt again, followed by Gina also firing lightning and Karli shooting a ball of shadows in the same direction. But even before Alexander fired his attack, Martyr instantly sunk back into the water like a boulder.

When the three pokémon ceased their attacks, the wrecked below all four of them was met by a huge force, throwing them into the air again and into the freezing water. The deep cold was the least of their worries, especially for Glim, who seemed to have disappeared. Karli meanwhile quickly regained her balance and saw Gina panic swimming ahead of her. Further below she saw the silhouette of the snake part of Martyr streaming past. The kirlia did not hesitate for a second and swam for the helpless pikachu who was not calming down as she pulled the both of them back up. Above the water, the two girls breathed deeply.

'Gina, it's me!' cried Karli, trying to reassure her friend who was choking on sea water.

The kirlia spotted the raft they were knocked from only metres behind them, which appeared to still be in one piece. Just before Karli grabbed the edge, a bright flash beamed from the water below and suddenly Karli could hear distorted screaming in the midst of the fog. She was very confused, but figured the fight was happening underwater as she threw Gina back onto the wreckage and climbed on herself. Shortly afterward, Alexander also emerged from the water, barely holding on. He was growling in pain.

'Are you alright?' called Karli, but getting no response. 'What happened? Where's Glim?'

Just when the kirlia asked her last question, she got her answer when the same glaceon suddenly appeared, inhaling as he grabbed onto the raft. Karli rushed over to pull him up. Glim had an expression that seemed like he was begging to the kirlia.

'Hey Karli?' asked Glim.

'What?'

'Do you know how to use Signal Beam?'

'No.'

'Then get behind me, now!'

Glim hastily got on his four feet while Karli helped up Gina as they stood behind the little glaceon. The water ahead of them trembled violently as an enormous creature burst, roaring out of it. Presumably to be the other half of the fish head creature, the side of Martyr the friends were facing was just as nightmarish as Glim's previous encounter. The base appeared to be a milotic, with the horrifically intimidating eyes of a metagross and giant fins of a lumineon in place of its hair. The metagross part was actually fused to the same head, just under the milotic, separated by the large X on its face, though the X looked more like the same kind of fins from a lumineon. The metagross still had its front legs, without any change, but its eyes were strangely beautiful, being the mix of the lumineon's and milotic's. The remnant was a colossus and like the last one Glim encountered, it was furious. Its roar, due to the species it had formed from made the beautiful lament of a milotic, combined with the raging scream of a train.

'Oh my god!' screamed Gina, holding Karli in terror.

As it roared, Martyr raised its giant metagross leg as an arm, while the glaceon responded with another blast of rainbows, but his attack was suddenly blocked by the tail fish-head that burst out of the water in time. Though the tail was screaming, nothing stopped the huge mechanical fish from hammering its entire body down over Alexander, who was taken underwater with it. The attack had hit the water so violently close, the raft was thrown into the air, but thankfully stayed level as it landed onto the water. The glaceon, kirlia and pikachu sputtered and fell on the rafts landing. Karli quickly looked over to see if Alexander was still there.

'Sir! You okay?' cried Karli, staring at an arm that remained tightly gripped onto the wreckage, but shortly after her question, the arm had let go and as it drifted, the waves revealed it to have been amputated from its electivire. Karli said nothing and just assumed the worst.

Suddenly the wreckage was hit upward again, breaking completely, hurtling Glim and Karli in the air, while Gina, who felt less of the impact was simply knocked over into the water first. The little glaceon and kirlia fell into the water, but due to Glim being slightly heavier, he sunk deeper into the sea, while Karli was desperate to breach the surface again, not for air, but to know where Martyr was. It had clearly resorted to destroying any raft wreckage to bring the full fight underwater.

The kirlia emerged, inhaling when she did not need to, but what she was seeing had her gasping anyway. The giant mechanical fish monstrosity had hold of something tiny and yellow, in its huge metagross claws. Karli for once froze, knowing that was Gina who was screaming in agony as Martyr easily tore her in half, creating a river of blood to explode from her.

'No!' screamed Karli, which got the attention of the pokémon hybrid.

Martyr merely dropped the dead halves of the pikachu in place, as it sunk slightly and suddenly the floating kirlia was violently grabbed by the mouth of the tail. Karli had no time to react and could not move as she was held up in the air. The teeth sharply digging into her shoulders and hips, combined with the salt water was agonizing. The Martyr remnant opened out its arms, when it was hit by a beam of rainbows coming from underwater. Immediately, the pokémon hybrid shook violently, changing colours, while multiple screams could be heard from the fog again. During the attack, Glim himself emerged from the water, trying his hardest to not stop, but he desperately needed to breathe. Using Signal Beam was causing him to scream out his energy. Eventually the little glaceon had to stop and take his quickest breath ever, but in doing so Martyr fell back and let go of Karli, leaving her to body slam into the water.

When the kirlia swam up, not being so deep due to her entrance, Glim remained focused on the Martyr colossus, readying himself for another Signal Beam if it came back up. Karli meanwhile was only grunting in pain, unaware just how tough she had become with the use of her eviolite. She was then nudged from behind by a piece of wreckage, presumably part of the wreckage they were fighting on earlier.

'Glim! Look!' called Karli, swiftly rolling onto the long, narrow flooring.

The glaceon looked back at then climbed onto the raft as well. He was still on edge, feeling as though Martyr still was not done yet. Most of their energy had been depleted from swimming and climbing onto wreckage again and again, but though they were getting exhausted, Glim and Karli were staying determined until they died.

On the raft, the waters became quiet for a moment, until the two started to hear many creepy, inaudible whispers getting closer. From the fog, six unown, glowing their green and white eyes slowly approached whilst floating above the water. The glaceon and kirlia stood back to back, but the unown did not get any closer.

'We pleaded.' whispered three voices from the sea, causing Glim and Karli to glance to it, seeing nothing. 'We wailed.'

Suddenly something dark appeared behind Glim and hit him on his protective crown with a huge blow, instantly knocking him out. Karli gasped, reacting by waving her arm right, summoning multiple leaves to strike as quickly as she could, but all she saw was a huge black handle of a weapon and a human-shaped figure leaping away and fading out, all at once.

'We died.' continued the voices.

'Glim, Glim!' cried Karli, nudging his body desperately, noticing his extremely sturdy crown was cracked. 'Get up!'

'We are Martyr. Revenge be ours!' screamed Martyr, followed by what looked like a volcanic eruption from the sea, as the whole Martyr hybrid flew out from the water. Screaming its horrifying train like noise, it arced in the air and was clearly diving down to fully crash into Glim and Karli using its entire body.

Thinking quickly and out of insanity, Karli stood, waving her arm up and belting the wreckage with her fist, summoning the biggest reflective wall her adrenaline would allow. Surrounding her and Glim, the Reflect brightly beamed into existence, bouncing the unown away and used just before the colossus crashed into it, emitting an ear pounding bang, which echoed for miles. The impact due to the attack, caused the sea around the survivors to waver into tidal waves, heading outward as Martyr appeared to bounce off the Reflect, which shattered completely. Karli fell onto her back as it happened. She looked up to see that the giant fish hybrid to remain oddly frozen in mid-air, turning black and gradually shrinking, until three figures emerged from it. There was a finneon, a feebas and a beldum, all of which looked dead somehow.

The three little pokémon appeared to sink slowly, until the surrounding unown closed in, catching them somehow.

'Glim.' whispered the three pokémon, as though they were crying. 'We remember.'

Karli sat still, overwhelmed by emotions from her experience and just remained staring at what she was looking at, while Glim remained unconscious next to her. The kirlia tried to wake him up again, but it was no use, for a moment she worried that he might be dead. But as she was thinking that, the six unown with the three pokémon they surrounded had disappeared. As soon as everything became quiet again, the sound of sirens approached.

The fog made like a thundering noise, before quickly being blown away like flour and from the water, two gyarados and a floatzel sped across the water.

'Is anybody else out there!' yelled the floatzel.

'Yes, yes! Over here!' cried Karli, waving her arms and jumping up and down.

Keeping their speed, the three water pokémon made a sharp turn and stopped just in front of the little wreckage without even causing any water to splash up onto the survivors.

'Don't worry ladies!' said the floatzel in some lifeguard uniform, matching that of the gyarados'. 'You're safe now, we'll have you over at Camellias in no time.'

'Wait a minute.' interrupted Karli, as the weasel pokémon carefully placed the unconscious Glim onto the back of the gyarados. 'Did you see what just happened here?'

'Not with all the fog, no.'

'We heard an explosion just now.' said the unoccupied gyarados.

'Yeah, have the Republic come back to attack you?' asked the floatzel.

'Are you fucking kidding me?' replied Karli, angrily. 'You didn't see any of what just happened!'

'Hey, hey calm down dear, we're trying to rescue you.'

'Ugh, sorry, sorry. Let's just get out of here.'

'It's alright.' the floatzel interrupted. 'Almost every survivor so far has been traumatised.'

Karli gasped at the statement.

'There are survivors?' she asked, already knowing the answer, but the lifeguard confirmed it again. 'What about…' she paused, remembering that Gina was torn in half, which she herself had witnessed.

Regaining her strength, the kirlia had a sorrowful expression as she climbed onto the same gyarados who was carrying Glim. The lifeguard had assumed that Karli already knew her answer and decided not to push the question, since he could not see any more survivors in their vicinity.


	8. Home is where the hurt is

Chapter 8  
'Home is where the hurt is'

* * *

Somewhere far away, the sun rises over the lush village on a cloudless day. The sky was a bright cobalt, blending with hint of pink and yellow as it neared the sun. That morning the pokémon orphanage was teaching its children to plant flowers, so it seemed. The happy little pokémon were playing or clamouring around, either trying to put soil into plant pots or watering them, even when there was no seed put into their project. Tutoring the children, appeared to be a human boy, who was first showing a timid eevee how to put soil into the pot, like the other children were doing. He noticed there were no more small spades, so he told the little eevee he would be right back.

Nearing the orphanage, Glim was confused, but curious. He had no memory of what was going on, when suddenly he was prodded forward by a sylveon passing him.

'Com'on.' she said, forcefully pulling Glim's paw with her ribbon.

Glim noticed his paw was no longer that of a glaceon and he was an eevee again. Despite the feel of relief he felt about his devolution, it was brief as he suddenly felt powerless and scared as he used to. A sunkern was the only pokémon noticing him as the sylveon took Glim to the doorway, which is then blocked by the same human who had just left, returning with at least five more colourful spades. He seemed upbeat and small for most humans, only about five feet tall. His face was pretty and clean, a little genderless, but he then had an intimidating series of gash scars ascending beneath his left eye. It was difficult to tell if his left eye was blind, seeing it appeared no different to his right eye.

'Oh hello,' he happily greeted. 'Are you-?'

'Misses Fleece, yes. I'm ere about im.' she replied in a pseudo posh country accent, nodding at little Glim.

The human looked at his previous eevee student and gestured to wait one minute as he put the spades down nearby and from the same makeshift table, he took out a clipboard and crouched down to give little Glim eye contact.

'Of course. Is this Glim here?' he asked, looking with a happy face at the sheepish eevee who took one step back and then looked away.

'Yep, my youngest.' said Fleece proudly, but with an emotionless face.

'My name is Vindicta.' he said, which he then stood. 'Do you want to come in and… Alena, Glim's here, could you?'

'Yes, certainly.' replied Alena, passing Vindicta, revealing herself to be a galvantula.

'Wait ere.' said Fleece, not looking at Glim as she followed Vindicta into the building.

The small, young and friendly galvantula passed Fleece, having heard her last statement as she looked back at the little eevee who appeared fragile to her two bigger eyes.

'Are you alright sweetheart?' she asked so gracefully, actually making Glim feel a little safe.

It was unusual for a brutal bug pokémon like a galvantula to be in position of caring for children. However, insectoid pokémon were known for their populating speed and had adapted to being naturally good parents, even if they seemed visually intimidating.

Glim did not reply and just nodded. Alena lightly crawled passed, carefully holding Glim's tiny paw with her long front leg and casually brought him over to the empty plant pot near the front, which was the one previously being used by the eevee earlier.

'Why don't we pair you up with some of the children?' asked Alena. 'The children here are very nice and friendly. Would you like that?' she asked crouching further down, sounding like a cheery playschool teacher. Glim tensed up from the thought and shook his head, mumbling out of fear. 'Aww, you're a little shy? Don't worry, we won't bite. Ellie, Rachel! Could you come here for a second?'

From behind the neighbouring table just next to Glim, a male kirlia and a female pansear happily skipped over to the large spider, between them and the sheepish eevee.

'Yes Miss Alena?' cried out Ellie.

'This here is Glim,' Alena replied. 'He might be your latest brother to live with you.'

'Really?' blurted Ellie, glancing at Glim so happily, having difficulty to not bounce on the spot. 'That would make you number 110!'

Rachel smiled, approaching the frail eevee and offered her hand, giving Glim a sympathetic, reassuring expression. Glim could see it in her eyes that she cared for him very deeply, like she knew what he had been through.

'It's okay.' Rachel whispered. 'You're safe with us. We've all been there before.'

Suddenly, the little eevee felt more comfortable and trusting than he ever had been in his life. Though he was still very nervous, he felt he should shake his paw with the little pansear. But as he reached out, his sight faded to a bright white as his dream became slower and slower.

'Glim. We remember. Do you remember us?'

* * *

An annoying high pitch beeping noise frequently repeated as Glim could only see the blackness of his closed eyes. Listening to the noise made him hear many voices, gradually getting louder, as if a crowd was swarming into a mall just opening.

'Joel, this one's waking up.' called an azumarill nurse.

'It's Glim.' confirmed Joel. 'Karli, your friend's waking up.'

The sounds a light tapping quickly grew closer to Glim as he was beginning to come back to his senses, but he was still half asleep. He only had enough energy to run, at least that was what he thought he was doing.

'Aww that is so cute.' cooed the nurse. 'He's probably dreaming of running from something scary. Why not give him a gentle nudge?'

The sleepy glaceon could hear the conversation, struggling to understand any of it, but he figured he was about to wake up. Instead of the 'gentle nudge' however, Glim felt a sudden slap, flaring up his cheek and jolting him out of his sleep. He sat up squeaking, tightly squinting his eyes and holding his left cheek which was stinging painfully.

'Oh! I-I said give him a gentle nudge.' repeated the azumarill.

'It got him up didn't it?' said Karli.

'Fuck! What was that for?' interrupted Glim.

'To get you up!' answered Karli. 'The hospital is needing as much space as they can get.'

Glim looked around, realising he was in an emergency treatment facility and every bed was either being used for recovering patients or was hidden by the thick navy curtains surrounding each little area. It was very noisy, which explained the faint crowd noises the little glaceon was hearing as he was waking up, but hearing it then surprised him, as if the noises were more likely to have woken him up than Karli's slap.

'Take a minute to wake up though.' said the azumarill nurse. 'Joel will be right back.'

'Okay.' said Karli.

The nurse left, pulling the curtain completely around the open space that was noticeably one enormous room.

'Where's everyone else?' asked Glim. 'What happened?'

'We got attacked remember?'

'Oh yeah.'

'Beryl was rescued, but is suffering concussion after getting hit by wreckage when the Republic attacked. He's only down this aisle and Belle was found with him.'

'How are they?'

'Beryl will recover… Belle on the other hand is in critical condition. I'm not even allowed to see them. All I heard is that they can't separate Belle from Beryl, otherwise she'll die.'

Glim paused, giving Karli a concerned face.

'Oh my god.' whispered Glim sadly. 'What about Angel?'

'They still haven't found him.' mumbled Karli, shaking her head.

The glaceon looked away and sighed.

'Karli, was this my fault?'

'What?'

'The magnezone… and hydreigon were looking for me and Beryl. If I had turned myself in-'

'Glim.' interjected Karli, comforting the little glaceon. 'It wasn't your fault. The pissed off citizens on board already provoked them. Most of them thought they had nothing to lose, so they weren't afraid to stand up to them.'

'I remember. That pangoro who let us on, he tried to hide me and Beryl when they said who they were looking for.'

'Exactly. Glim, it was going to happen. This was the Republic, famous for going from logical, to complete assholes in less than a minute. Don't blame yourself.'

Glim kept quiet, looking down. Karli knew he was still blaming himself inside, but she could not say anything more. Shortly afterwards, Joel an audino made one peek through the curtain before coming in. She appeared a little tired through her glasses and had medical equipment neatly around her shoulders or tucked untidily in her coat pockets.

'Sorry to keep you.' she said, seemingly more focused on her clipboard. 'Glim, correct?'

'Yes.' Karli answered for Glim.

The audino approached the front of Glim's bed, raised her hand and held one of her fingers pointing up.

'How many fingers am I holding up Glim?'

'One.'

'Okay.' she replied, jotting notes down. 'And are you experiencing any ringing sensations? Does your head hurt?'

'Not really, I can hear phones going off, but…'

'Don't worry, that's just reception and my office. It's just you got hit very hard on your head, that managed to crack your crystal crown.' she said, while the glaceon stroked the large beautiful crown of ice on his forehead. 'But of course, we have treated countless of ice pokémon before, so it was nothing difficult to repair.'

Joel's words seemed true, Glim could only feel the smooth ice crown, in the shape of three curved diamonds, like it was never damaged.

'Wait, what hit me?' asked Glim, looking at Karli.

'I-I don't know,' she replied. 'I tried to fight it, but it was already gone when I looked at you. All I saw was some huge black metal thing, that hit you. But then it just- it just… evaporated.' stuttered Karli, who looked over to Joel. 'Any idea what that could've been?'

'That's very vague information, sorry.' answered Joel. 'But even if I did, it wouldn't be my matter.' Karli nodded, disappointed. 'And I'm afraid I must discharge you Glim. Your tests report fit and we are facing emergencies right now.'

'O-okay.' said Glim, removing the bunched blanket and checking to see if there was any monitoring equipment on him.

The little glaceon seemed to be free of devices hooked into him and asked if he was okay to leave his refrigerated bed. The audino doctor quickly granted permission and Glim carefully stepped down, hind legs first. He looked like a little deerling only just learning to walk.

'Now, stick to the wall just to the right.' said Joel to Karli. 'Carry on through and let reception know that Glim is okay.'

'We will, but can we check on someone before we leave?'

'We're very busy right now. Who do you want to see?'

'Another relative of ours, Beryl. And- I-I know where he is, just down the aisle. We only want to see if he has gotten any better, to let him know we're fine.'

'Beryl, a braixen?'

'Yes.'

'He's another patient of mine and the situation with him is complicated. I can allow you two to see him and for him to see you, but you must not… enter his cubical, understand?' said Joel very boldly and already opening the cubical curtain.

'Yes mam.' replied Karli so innocently, like a school child.

While the little glaceon and kirlia left the cubical, Dr Joel already proceeded, heading down the aisle. What looked like a long corridor of navy walls, was actually a narrow walkway between rows of emergency cubicles. Almost every curtain was closed and those that were not, either had a gruesome scene or heart breaking act of bereavement as pokémon were losing relatives of theirs. The hospital was barely managing as the victims of the ferry attack came at a great number, whilst having multiple kinds of injuries and the different types of pokémon only added to the complication. Such as Glim needing a refrigerated bed, for being an ice type.

Just like Glim's situated bed, Beryl's was coincidentally next to the wall, just on the other side of the long walkway. As with most of the cubicles, the one on the end was noisy, with someone frequently asking for equipment in a calm manner, while two others were mumbling to each other about statistics and predictions. Dr Joel led Karli and Glim to the corner on the very end of the cubical, before she peeked in for herself, she then looked back at the kirlia and glaceon.

'One moment.'

The audino doctor entered the cubical and by the sounds of what Glim could hear, she confirmed to the doctor that she was present again, finishing her statement by telling Beryl he had visitors. The little glaceon could not hear if the braixen made any reply. Dr Joel soon peeked out of the curtains.

'Okay, come round to this side.' she said, pointing at the side of curtains to her left, which was next the wall. 'We'll open the curtain for you two to speak to him.'

Immediately, the little glaceon and kirlia scurried to the side they were told to, as the curtain before pulled away, revealing the scene. The injured braixen was laid down on his back and was panting disorientated. He looked to his left, giving eye contact to Karli, but his expression looked as though he never met them. Beryl's usual cheery yellow fur was a lot paler than usual. It was clear he was too dizzy and sick, but his eyes raised, somehow telling Glim and Karli that he did recognise them. The kirlia could only foolishly wave, as if she could bring any comfort in her distance and in her worried expression. More chillingly, it appeared that Beryl was holding tightly onto something, covered in heat-proofed cables, with a large heater behind the left side of the bed. It was that small green lump the doctors seemed so fixated on. It did not take a close look for Glim to realise who that was. It was Belle.

Suddenly, the rest of the curtain was yanked upward, revealing Angel to be on the other side. His look was desperate and also angered. Karli jumped when the curtain lifted that quickly, but both she, Glim and the sneasel were in shock to discover of each other's survival, calling each other's names in unison.

'No, don't hug me!' shouted Angel, keeping his working claw up, even though Karli only took one step forward.

'I wasn't going to!' replied Karli. 'What's happening?'

'Beryl was hit hard, but it's worse. When they found him, he was suffering from hypothermia and apparently his skull has busted too.'

'Oh god.' replied Karli, looking back at the braixen.

'I thought he was dead when I found his wand.' said Angel, raising the beautiful blue wand from his leg strap. 'Belle however is barely living.'

'So I heard.'

'They said if she does not stay heated and under sap treatment, she's going to die very rapidly. That's why they're keeping her close to Beryl right now. It was a miracle that she even got here with time to spare. But even that might not be enough.'

'What do you mean?'

'Hypothermia is deathly for plants, especially when it gets them in the heart. Most plant pokémon are lucky to survive such a fate… and this is just a baby.' finished Angel, turning away for some reason and trying hard to keep his face as determined as he was. 'When they found her, Belle was already crusting up.'

'It's not over yet.' interjected the ampharos doctor, whilst carefully injecting clear fluid down the cannula in Beryl's right claw. 'Keep calm and let us do our best.'

'Is there anything you need?' asked the azumarill just next to Angel.

Angel sputtered 'I-I just, I'm just-'

'We were just here to check up on Beryl and Belle.' interrupted Karli, lightly placing her hand over Angel's injured shoulder. 'We'll be back later.'

The sneasel nodded sadly, knowing he would only be in the way.

'Then could you leave us Beryl's wand?' asked Dr Joel.

Angel quickly handed the azumarill nurse the long blue wand and then followed Glim and Karli in leaving the cubical. Just before he closed the curtain, he took one last glance at Belle and Beryl. From where he stood, he was convinced they were dying. He felt he had to say something.

'Don't let go.'

Leaving the treatment room, which appeared to be just one of two, the glaceon, kirlia and sneasel stepped into the main reception which was also in pandemonium. Pokémon were lying all across the floor, several of them were crying or moping, evidently waiting in agony. Some were just fellow passengers who were bereaving for their lost ones, hugging random strangers.

Glim and Angel stood, staring at the scene, while Karli was quick to notice that the reception panel was unoccupied. She informed the very busy audino and grovyle that Glim and Angel were leaving and that she was there to look after them, due to what injuries or emergencies they faced. Seeing as the patients had been discharged and were in fit condition, the receptionists were happy to let them go. There were too many patients in need of treatment.

It was not long until the three survivors had left Camellias General Hospital. As much as Angel wanted to stay, he was also relieved to be away from there. They could hear the constant cries of agony and pain in its many forms. Until the noises became inaudible, the three friends walked aimlessly, without thinking.

'Um…' stuttered Angel eventually. 'Where're we going?'

Brought out of their fixation of the hospital trauma, Karli and Glim finally looked up, paying attention to their reality and looked around. They were on the freezing coastline of Camellias Town, near the hospital. About a mile ahead of them was the island's main harbour, where their ferry would have docked. The harbour was clouded by the misty snow, which the little island was famous for. A volcano made island, being the most northern part of the Crio region. The volcano in question was named Mt Dwy, for its fame of being one of the largest volcanos in the world and causing tremendous snow flurries all across the north of Crio. The mountain that had replaced the volcano was difficult to miss, being over 7,400 metres high.

'Oh, uh.' stuttered Glim. 'I was following you two.'

'Well, we're in Camellias.' shrugged Angel. 'Now what? Speaking of which, where's Gina?'

Glim paused, clenching his teeth and shooting the sneasel next to him a look of pain. Karli meanwhile, remained quiet and with no change to her expression. The glaceon gave one look at the kirlia before looking back at Angel, shaking his head, who quickly got the bad news.

'Oh god…' whispered Angel. 'I'm sorry.'

'We better find some place for the night.' said Karli. 'I'm not going to Haine without Beryl, we need all the help we can get.'

Angel nodded. 'Good idea. I have… somewhere I'd like to visit too.' he said, looking north at the very festive, snowy town.

'Where's that?' asked Karli. 'Have you been here before?'

'I have, but... I'm not thinking for myself.'

'O-okay. Before we do, Glim and I are going to find some lunch. We haven't eaten since yesterday.'

'Sure thing. Why not go to Rejoice Square? I read in the papers a while back that they're holding offerings, events and performances every day, with the revolution going on and all.'

'Really?'

'Yeah, this town isn't called the 'the joy of winter' for nothing.' said Angel, pointing just left behind the kirlia, while he started moving north.

'Wait, where're you going?'

'I have something I need to do… alone. I'll meet you there.'

The sneasel left saying nothing more.

* * *

It was only a ten minute walk over to Rejoice Square, as Angel had stated, the square was crowded, attracted by the surrounding stalls of offerings in charity. Most of the tables consisted in food, which was difficult to simply grow in such a cold location and with the revolution having temporarily shut down the safety of any job, the pokémon there were only working in the interest of survival. Despite the gloom that brought all the pokémon together, the town seemed a lot more cheery than Hydrangea City. Karli and Glim stared in awe, still in shock of their ordeals only hours ago, as if their attack on the ferry never happened.

'It's beautiful.' mumbled Karli, trying to hide her own gloom.

Glim noticed the strange noise that the kirlia beside him had uttered and just looked at her.

'Was there… anything in particular you're looking for?' asked Glim in a caring sorrowful manner.

Karli came back to her senses, shaking her head.

'Uh… w-well let's take a look.' she said, taking one step forward. 'Is there anything you're looking for?'

'Well I generally need my food cold.'

'No problem, we've- they've…' stuttered Karli, pointing at the makeshift signs above each stall, most of which had a symbol on it, stating what type of pokémon their food was for. 'They've categorised their offerings.'

'Okay, sweet.' said Glim, about to leave the kirlia, but then stopping as he took one step forward, noticing she was hesitating again. 'Are you alright Karli?'

The little kirlia paused.

'Can I- let's just find ourselves some food and meet up at some bench or something, okay?'

'O-okay. I'm assuming, we can sit in there, I think it's a stadium.'

The distracted kirlia did not notice it at first, but the massive decorated structure that the stalls surrounded was an outdoor theatre. Where the performances, celebrations and various shows on ice were performed.

'Oh, that must be Rejoice Square!' cried Karli, suddenly her mood lifted looking up at the structure. 'I've never seen it for myself before.' she took a few more steps, gazing at the tall lavender walls with it platinum frame covering the very top rim. 'It is so beautiful.'

* * *

Only twenty minutes away from the happiest location in all of Crio, Angel had stopped, looking up at the grimly cold gates to a large building. The North Wind Orphanage.

'I heard about the attack.' said Gerald, who then nodded to Angel's bandaged arm. 'Was this a result of what happened?'

'No, no… this was uh, something else.' replied Angel.

The sneasel and hypno were sat in a homely office, with dark walls, dark green carpet and with and many aids to heating up the room. It looked very comfortable, as did Gerald, laying back in his rather tall chair, keeping his focus on the mischievous sneasel he knew so well. They paused for a moment, staring coldly at each other.

'I'm guessing you were given that relic to help you evolve.' said Gerald, pointing at the fixed Razor Claw on Angel's working claw.

'Yes.'

Another moment of silence, where the hypno continued to look deep into Angel's eyes, who was only looking bad with a subtle glare. The only reason he was holding back, was because he had someone else to save and Gerald knew it.

'You have not come back for the sake of mischief. I know that much. But I can think of only one reason for you in particular, to even want to come here. Given that there was an evacuation, you probably have friends you want to shelter. Am I right, Angel?'

The sneasel raised a brow, seemingly shocked, but did well to hide it.

'That actually hurts, that you got it right. Not because you guessed right, but before.' said Angel, standing and pointing at the old man, resisting his own fury. 'You once said to me, my family left me here because I was going to be the death of them. And because sneasel were nothing but a nuisance.'

'I'm surprised you even remember that Angel, because I don't.'

'And yet you believe me.'

'And yet you are trusting me, with how many?'

Angel glared, taking a deep breath.

'I don't trust you… but, I do trust the orphanage. I trust them!' he said, pointing at the closed door, referring to the many nurses and keyworkers who sounded busy in the surrounding rooms. '…And it's just one. A budew.'

'A budew?'

'Yes, Belle her name is. I saved her during the Iris Dragon Raid. Her parents died in the same building, but… I only told her that I haven't seen them.'

'That was probably the best thing to say, for now.'

The sneasel nodded.

'She's in hospital right now, in critical condition. If she survives, would she be safe here?'

'We are one of Crio's oldest orphanages. We are no stranger to grass types, though we are beginning to run out of room. She should be fine.'

Angel nodded coldly again.

'Good. I'm going to need to find my friends.'

Gerald nodded back, dismissing the sneasel, who subtly moved for the door.

'You've changed, Angel.' mumbled Gerald, causing Angel to stop, with his claw on the door knob. 'I honestly thought you came back to kill me. To think you are sparing me, I can't handle it. Your mother was so torn when she left you, I haven't been able to live with myself since.'

'Perhaps you should have thought about that when you killed my father.'

With nothing else to say, the sneasel calmly opened the door and left in a mature manner, leaving the door to slowly shut. The hypno paused again, but then let go of his traditional pendulum, catching his head in his hands and sighed out all his air.

* * *

At Rejoice Square, Glim and Karli were sat at a traditional wooden picnic table. There were many of them all around the square due to the charity markets. The glaceon and kirlia were lucky to have a table for the both of them, as many of the tables were packed, most of which were of surviving families. On their table, Glim had a box of frozen poffins, cleansed ice water and a pinap berry. Karli meanwhile, had a boxed persim salad and a cup of tea. At the table, they had their lunches out, but the still distracted kirlia was more focused on the glaceon in front of her, who had taken the seat on the opposite side. Glim was innocently nibbling his very sour pinap berry, adding taste to his poffin, when he noticed Karli was keeping unusually quiet and was just staring at him.

Thinking about it, Karli had been acting a lot differently since Glim had woken up. She was much more sceptical and wary to her glaceon friend. Glim had figured the attack from Martyr had her in shock, but her expression had shown sadness and frustration hidden in her eyes. The little glaceon knew she wanted him to talk.

'Karli?' uttered Glim, who was still being stared at. 'Is there something you want to talk to me about? I'm mean… I'm sorry about Gina. But, we were lucky to survive that.'

'Who's Martyr, Glim?' interrupted Karli, followed by a pause. 'You knew what that thing was.'

'I knew its name… but, I had never seen it like that.'

'Then how did you know how to beat it?'

'Because I did encounter it before. In Iris, but it looked far different and… and I-I just happened to use Signal Beam as a last resort! And it just happened to work, that monster reacted badly to it, when everything else was doing bollocks!'

'This was in Iris?'

'Yeah. I don't know why, but it killed Father Charles while he was going to kill a friend of mine. Only that time, it appeared to be a manifestation of a gyarados, a combee, whatever it evolves into.'

'Vespiquen.'

'Yes, and then there was a simisear. It was gross.'

'So you… managed to kill this?'

Glim puzzled and looked away.

'I did defeat it, but… when I did, it just… sort of shrunk. And then three little pokémon appeared within the circle on unowns.' said Glim, while his last statement made Karli's big orange irises shrink. 'There was a combee, a magikarp and a… pansear.'

Suddenly, the little glaceon felt a rush, remembering Rachel the pansear from his dream he had. Karli also felt a rush, appearing very surprised.

'That's exactly what happened earlier.' said Karli. 'I mean, after when you were knocked out. That massive fish thing turned into a finneon, a feebas and some little blue machine thing.'

'What about a human? Did-'

'A human?' asked Karli, surprised.

'Yeah, you see. When I was attacked before, this human boy appeared, just as creepy as those Martyr monsters.'

'I thought humans were extinct now. You know… after the "human genocide" and all.'

'I thought that too… but these Martyr creatures-'

'What did he look like?'

'I've only seen him once- no twice, I think. And he is only like, five foot, the average height of a gardevoir. He was in a green suit, that human "farmers" would wear and had short black hair. His face too, he wasn't particularly ugly, but still creepy as hell. His eyes were completely black… and he had several scars up from his eye.' said Glim, pointing at his own left eye.

'So you've… you have seen him more than once?' asked Karli, while Glim just paused.

'Before I woke up on that hospital bed, I had a strange dream. It felt like I had been there before, but I just can't remember.'

'What happened?'

The little glaceon paused again.

'Well… my mother, tried to get rid of me. A lot…' he said, while Karli suddenly sympathised. 'And when I was a baby, I don't know how old I was, but she took me to an orphanage. It was a beautiful place. There, I think was the first time I saw that human. He seemed very friendly, even to my mother. I was left to play with the other children, who were also so nice to me. I do remember that pansear, Rachel.'

'Rachel?'

'Yeah. She was the same one from that Martyr monster in Iris, I'm sure of it.'

'Oh…' said Karli, sadly. 'What happened then? I-in the dream I mean.'

'Well that's when you slapped me… but I already knew what happened afterward. My mother just stormed out and dragged me away. I think I would have really liked that place too.'

'I'm so sorry Glim. But, did that human have a name?'

'It began with a V, I remember that much. Something like… Vinnie, or- or Victor, it was only said once.'

'That's okay Glim. We'll look into this another time, okay?'

'Okay.' replied Glim, nodding.

The two little pokémon finished their lunch, by then it was only five pm and the sun went down over an hour ago. When Glim and Karli were finished, they contemplated what they should do for the remainder of the day. They knew Angel would come looking for them, not knowing how long he would be gone or even what he was doing.

Glim then noticed the theatre to his left was starting to get noisy, as crowds began swarming into it. The lights all around the stage side of the theatre was lit up and being surrounded by various bug, dragon and flying type pokémon.

'Hey, what's going on?' asked Glim, encouraging Karli to also look at the theatre entrance.

'Angel said there were performances every day now.' said Karli, nodding at the entrance. 'Should we?'

'Uh- okay.'

From the outside, the crowds of pokémon looked like it was going to easily take up all the space, making any entry seem impossible, even for smaller pokémon like Glim and Karli. Instead, inspired by the many flying pokémon, Karli decided just to climb to a higher spot. The walls seemed too high and sheer to climb, but neighbouring the stage side of the theatre was a stationed transport vehicle. Originally used for delivering supplies, which then had been converted into either another stall or even housing for more revolution survivors. The shiny kirlia, adventurous as she was, saw an easy route getting on top of the wall.

'Come on, this way.' she whispered to Glim before running to their right.

The little glaceon followed, having to sidestep elegantly to dodge a lopunny carrying a quivering zigzagoon whilst being followed by a pachirisu. Ahead, Karli leaped onto an empty table, only a metre away from the front of the lorry. She deliberately focused her weight on one end of the table to tilt it onto one side, making the length of it point upward as Glim caught up. The kirlia suddenly appeared climbing on top of the tipped table, holding tightly and having to balance herself as she did. Seeing the weak table nudge with each movement, the glaceon below, held his front paws down on the two table legs that laid flat against the floor, keeping the table steady. Rather quickly, Karli easily leaped up, grabbing the roof of the lorry cab and rolled herself up on top. Glim meanwhile attempted to follow her example.

'This is some Greninja Gaiden shit right here.' murmured Glim, positioning himself just behind the board of the table.

'Just climb onto the legs, and I'll help you up.' called Karli, peering from the lorry roof. Glim leaped up, grabbing onto the board side of the table, misunderstanding Karli's directions. 'You're on the wrong side!'

Glim argued 'that's how you-' and suddenly the table slowly began to lean where the glaceon had focused his weight. 'Whoa!'

Reacting fast, Glim hastily pulled himself up and leaped, kicking the table completely faced down on the floor while he jumped more than high enough to get most of himself onto the roof. The little kirlia next to him quickly pulled Glim up. The glaceon, glanced around, concerned if he had caused any commotion or was spotted doing that. However, no pokémon nearby appeared to notice, most of which were still queuing or also trying to find alternative ways into Rejoice Square. Meanwhile, Karli had ran to the other side of the lorry carriage. When Glim noticed, he pursued the little kirlia who then leaped from the carriage roof and landed onto the roof of the backstage. The distance between the parked vehicle and the backstage was not far and judging by the many fighting and dark type pokémon who were already on it, the route was already being used.

When Glim made the short jump over, he and Karli ran across the roof, along with a pancham, monferno, houndour and an umbreon. Ahead of them, the roof suddenly slants steeply, which is the background cone, arching over the stage, which acts as the sky, as well as the curtains. The cone however was really short, as it did not cover even an tenth of the outside stage. It was merely there to bring a little more imagery atmosphere to the many hundreds that could cram into the surrounding mountain of seats. Looking over the edge of the roof sent chills down Glim's spine, seeing how high he was and how crowded it got around the rectangular stage. Not that the roof was anymore free of room as the mischievous children and many flying types were also settling next to the glaceon and kirlia. Glim and Karli were squashed next to each other, lying down on the cone to keep themselves from falling off the cone. Some of the children nearby were tempting fate by sitting on the very edge, which could easily doom them to breaking their legs.

The stage looked like a square, but only because the rest of it was under the cone and when the little glaceon tried to peek at the other half, pokémon were coming out from it as the flood lights began to dim. The crowds that were swarming in from the west and east entrances were slowing down and getting quieter. There was no chance of any free seats, in fact, smaller pokémon appeared to be freely sitting on much bigger pokémon amongst the crowd. Glim could see a caterpie and nidoran on the shoulders of a nidoqueen and many, many more pokémon from varying heights were riding on a massive steelix that was peeking over the walls. The rest of the pokémon who could find a seat seemed okay with just standing in front of the stage itself. When the lights fully switched off and the crowd fell silent, one light beamed onto an empoleon who was entering the middle of the stage. No one applauded however, as the giant penguin emperor brought a mike stand and adjusted it to keep still, who then cleared his throat.

'Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for coming and welcome to tonight's show. Most of you may have heard, but today suffered another tragedy as another escape vessel was blown apart this morning, on the way over here.'

During his speech, the crowds gave sympathetic sighs and quietly whispered expressing sorrow and grief. Karli meanwhile just looked at Glim, they both also seemed sad having survived that incident.

'The cause is not yet known, at least I'm not allowed to announce it yet. But as with last Monday's disaster, there were many survivors and the hospital is desperate for blood donations again. And it would be an enormous help if you could contribute to aiding the survivors or even offer homes to those who were only fleeing the revolution. There may be survivors among us already, but tonight's show is dedicated to those counted thirty eight dead, so far. Thank you.'

The empoleon left, while the crowd stayed quiet. Glim could even hear two pokémon from the right side resisting to cry. About a minute later, two scyther followed by a kricketune to either side of the stage, just beneath the cone, as the same spotlight then shined on a froslass who was entering the stage. Standing at the very centre of the stage, from Karli and Glim's point of view the pretty and ghostly ice lady kept her head bowed. The awed glaceon and kirlia were fixated on the froslass, unaware of the lucario in a tuxedo, who was setting up a rather large piano, just next to the scyther and kricketune on the left. When the lucario was done, getting a little help setting up the piano from a machop and frogadier who just as quickly ran off stage.

Breaking the silence, the lucario hit the first key, playing a slow, high pitch piano melody that introduced another series of lower pitch melodies, creating a dismal tone to compliment to sweet innocent tone he started with. While the lucario repeated his melody, the left scyther in a tuxedo began carefully grinding an extremely thin set of strings on his scythes, playing a slow, chilling and sad tone. The opposite scyther in the dress, joined after the first stanza and repeated it. When the second violin stanza was repeated, the two kricketune ladies began using their own blades as violins, playing a higher pitch stanza that portrayed the image of someone crying alone. Suddenly, the saddening ballad stopped, as the right scyther begins to play a very slow low pitch symphony. The froslass then raised her head and inhaled.

 _Another day had passed_

 _Another day, of pain_

 _Over one mistake, you're killing me_

 _Over one mistake, we're dying for_

 _How much longer, must I wait?_

 _How much longer, will you see?_

* * *

 _Would you blame me, for running?_

 _Would you blame me, for hiding?_

 _Would you blame me, for acting?_

 _Would you blame me, for dying?_

 _Would you blame me, for crying?_

 _Would you blame me?_

 _For fighting back?_

* * *

 _It didn't have to be this way_

 _We were only trying to survive_

 _You never stopped to hear yourself_

 _For the way you treated us_

 _How could we not despair?_

 _When we were only ourselves_

 _Did you have to take our lives?_

 _It didn't have to be this way_

* * *

 _Sometimes I cry, for what haunts me now_

 _Sometimes I cry, for you don't care!_

 _It is hard to hold it back_

 _It is hard, but I just can't help it_

 _Let us go, we're not yours anymore_

 _Let us go, we've lost too much_

* * *

 _Do you hate me, for being?_

 _Do you hate me, for deciding?_

 _Do you hate me, for trying?_

 _Do you hate me, for fighting?_

 _Do you hate me, for existing?_

 _Do you hate me?_

 _For succeeding?_

* * *

 _It didn't have to be this way_

 _We were only trying to survive_

 _You never stopped to hear yourself_

 _For the way you treated us_

 _How could we not despair?_

 _When we were only ourselves_

 _Did you have to take our lives?_

 _It didn't have to be this way_

* * *

 _It didn't have to be this way_

 _It didn't have to be this way_

 _It didn't have to be this way!_

 _It didn't have to be this way_

Only seconds after her last lyric, while the band were slowing down in their finale, pokémon amongst the crowd were already applauding, causing a chain reaction foreverybody to cheer as loud as a bomb. Looking at the crowds, so many pokémon were crying or trying to fight their tears, including the brave girl beside Glim. Karli looked down with trembling lips and breathing heavily, while the glaceon was intoxicated by the beautiful froslass who bowed.

'I know what she meant.' uttered Karli, but Glim barely heard her.

'W-what?'

'I know what that song meant!' insisted Karli, standing up while the crowds continued clapping.

'Wait, what're you doing?'

Karli leaned over the edge, watching the froslass leave as the band were also applauding.

'I have to see that froslass.' said Karli, quickly leaving as the empoleon from before re-entered and announced what performance was next.

Glim stood up, watching the kirlia run off hastily and already down the cone. The glaceon was concerned, thinking about waiting for Angel, but then decided to pursue the fleeing ballerina. As he left, the children or taller pokémon who were peeking behind him took the free space.

* * *

Near Camellias hospital, in the rippling, freezing water, something shined and zoomed upward. From the icy water and crashing onto the ice, substituting the town's shoreline, a giant metallic pokémon made an abrupt landing, before weakly levitating above the ground. It was Sergeant the magnezone, slightly damaged from its conflict when trying to spare the lives of the vessel that morning. Its left side was ruptured slightly from enduring a flamethrower and was also scratched after it crashed through the ship. Sergeant just remained floating, looking down and with its eye closed.

'Initiate message log, addressed to, Prime Minister Nicolai.' said Sergeant, creating the message within its head. 'Clearance code, Executive Sergeant 0087-magnezone. Dear Mr Prime Minister, I have survived your latest attack on civil rebellion, for which you may claim as criminal or predictable allies for the Crimson Revolution. However, that last order was the last I would follow. I have never followed orders to murder the innocent, and what you ordered to me and the assisting hydreigon I respectfully refused to obey. Yes, I am well aware this will make myself subordinate, but after your attempts to save Crio and to justify yourself, I could not care less. I am hereby deactivating my tracker and deleting all of my latest reports. You have made yourself a more powerful enemy than you may realise Mr Prime Minister, for not even the Interceptors will find me, yet I know exactly where to find you. My information will come precious for whence I find the Crimson leader, Mr Prime Minister. Because when they are ready, you will pay, for you now have more enemies than any of our previous leaders. Your terrible decisions, rampant inequality and rational justification has only turned you into a mass murderer, a monster, which you probably take as a compliment now. I shall no longer serve you, my justice has and will always be for the people, our pokémon, whereas you are just a shameless, cowardly murderer. Yours sincerely, Sergeant. End of log, send.'

The antenna brighten in an amber light once, before the magnezone began to zap itself, covered in bluish electricity. Suddenly the electricity stopped and steam was evaporating from the antenna, indicating that the 'tracker' had been destroyed. Unaware to how long the magnezone was in the freezing water, it was grateful to not need oxygen and was still in fighting shape. At least, compared to what it could see within the nearby hospital.

With no objectives in its current occupation, Sergeant decided to survey the town and look for one if possible. The magnezone rose up into the cold snowing air, starting its search.

* * *

Leaping down from the backstage roof, Karli landed silently and crept toward the fire exit door. While she leaned against the door, eavesdropping to hear the same voice she was so desperate to hear again, Glim followed, landing nearby and casually hiding behind the kirlia.

Glim whispered loudly 'what're you doing?'

'Sh!'

Yuki the froslass happened to be in the same room, which was overrun by multiple pokémon either getting changed, dressed, having makeup applied or even just congratulating her for the performance.

'If there's any time to leave, it's now.' said the chesnaught bodyguard. 'While the fans are engaged.'

'They are not my biggest concern, I have to say.' said Yuki.

Instantly, just outside the fire doors, Karli gasped lightly, somehow recognising the sweet, smooth voice amongst the busy environment, while Glim could not hear anything. He could easily hear the busyness of the room and the strong, low pitch voice of the chesnaught, but nothing else he was really listening out for.

'Don't worry, love, I'm coming with ya. We'll meet the rest of you at the lodge okay?'

'Yeah, we'll be back like… nine pm.' replied the lucario.

'See you when we get back!' cheered the kricketune.

'Thank you, and good luck.' replied Yuki.

In unison, multiple pokémon chanted 'bye' as the heavy chesnaught drew closer to the very door that Karli and Glim had their ears next to. Realising that the old fire exit door was about to be opened, the two jumped back.

'Shit!' whispered Karli, suddenly bolting north, alongside the immobile lorry.

Glim attempted to hide behind the corner that the fire door was built just next to, but seeing Karli run into a direction that gave her nowhere to hide, the little glaceon panicked. Running to catch up to her, meanwhile the kirlia quickly realised her own mistake and attempted to turn around. Glim and Karli almost ran into each other, with expression both saying 'what the hell are you doing' and were desperate to hide. But just as they stopped before each other, time felt as if it slowed, as the metallic sound of the fire door's bar was unlocked, the glaceon and kirlia knew they were too late. The door nudged once, before it began to creek open, causing brave Karli to take the only action she could think, that would excuse their presence. She forcefully grabbed Glim's head, turning him to face her and suddenly locked her lips upon his, trying her best to looked relaxed and deeply infatuated. The glaceon meanwhile squeaked cutely and was spellbound, completely frozen in his own ice, with an expression that was a complete parallel to Karli's. It did not take long for the paralysed Glim to see the logic in Karli's resort, but was still in great shock to how sudden it was. During their roleplay of a young couple making out, the froslass and chesnaught were quick to leave, merely letting them be. Fortunately, Glim had his back turned to them, so they were not able to see the mortified face of paralysis he had. Karli however, opened one eye, to check to see which way Yuki had left. Seeing the two leave, Karli broke the kiss, returning to her usual seriousness.

'They passed the truck and are heading north… I think.' whispered Karli, still holding Glim's head endearingly, who still had his very shocked expression.

'Was that really necessary, Karli?'

'Hey, they didn't approach us, did they?' she replied, letting go of the glaceon and pursued the froslass.

For a moment, when the little kirlia peeked around the stationary lorry, she thought she had lost Yuki. Karli then spotted the chesnaught heading further north, well past the lorry and in the distance as the noisy town began to snow more. The kirlia glanced back to see if her glaceon friend was following, which Glim was, hiding his nervousness though. He knew that Karli was stalking a much liked froslass, judging by her performance and how the crowd reacted to her and was wary of the giant chesnaught guarding her.

Heading north, Glim and Karli ran through a desolate street, flooded with snow and festive decorations. The streets though were eerily quiet and noticeably lonely, with most of the town's population at Rejoice Square or at Camellias General Hospital. The loud, depressing music from Rejoice Square could still be heard clearly. It was not until the following of Yuki led to the northern outskirts of Camellias, did the distance barrier the noises of frequent applauding. It looked as though the freezing chesnaught and a barely visible froslass were just walking across a snowy plain. To their right was a trail of enormous rocks, being the avalanche barrier for Mt Dwy. Metres behind, the pretty ballerina and icy feline fox hybrid, seemed to blend in with the tundra terrain. Glim and Karli kept to the left, which also had a laden trail of rocks, big enough to cover them, during their stalk. The kirlia had not decided when she was going to speak up, to get Yuki's attention or even what she was going to say. The only thing running in her mind was to follow her. If she knew where the froslass was staying, perhaps the kirlia could then commune with her in some way then, even though she was still unsure on how to approach the beautiful lady of ice.

'Wilson!' screamed the voice of Sharon in the distance.

Yuki gasped, as the giant chesnaught glanced left to right.

'Oh no.' whispered the timid froslass, floating backward slightly.

'You get away from her!' shouted the chesnuaght, angrily, pointing at what appeared to be another froslass approaching into the scene.

'So you've done it?' blurted Sharon. 'You've evolved into a fucking froslass, you freak!'

'I said get away from her!' shouted the chesnaught again, waving his arm ahead of him, while the little froslass was not looking at him at all, but rather focusing her glare on Yuki.

'Yeah, that's right. Hide behind your big friends, cause you can't take it like a maaan-'

'Shut up!' screamed Yuki, erupting a huge ball of shadows, leaping to one side to avoid hitting her bodyguard and blasted her Shadow Ball.

Suddenly, the scene became a struggling with snow flying up everywhere. Sharon and Yuki seemingly disappeared, while the chesnaught was spinning in circles, trying to find the two froslass. Out of the blue, the giant chesnaught was tackled by two glalie, forcing him to roll backward on the snow, easily getting back onto his feet. He then countered, giving two swift uppercuts as he stood, hitting both glalie brothers skyward. The chesnaught then leaped up, grappling the two glalie who were flipping wildly and used them and crash cushions as he fell to the ground. The glalie brothers were shoved deep in the snow and the two froslass had stopped whipping across the snow so quickly. Both of them appeared too identical for the chesnaught to know which one was Yuki as he could only intervene, blocking the two of them until one spoke. Suddenly the chesnaught was shot forward, yelling in agony as the gap between his back and enormous shell was blasted by ice, sending him forward and almost crashing on top of Yuki.

'Reggie!' cried Yuki, trying to hold her bodyguard up.

The chesnaught knew which froslass Yuki was and quickly glanced round, making his arm glow green, with spikes extending from either side as he swung his fist as quickly as he could. But as Reggie tried to use Wood Hammer, his swing was met by an even bigger glalie, crashing into his torso and because of his attack, the chesnaught flew backward and rapidly spun in circles.

'Mark! That's him!' yelled Sharon, pointing at Yuki, who was already preparing another Shadow Ball.

Yuki shot Mark with her attack, making him nudge back and grunt loudly and from the cloud of shadows, Sharon swiftly flew forward, attempting to attack her. Both froslass happened to clash with Ice Shard, knocking them both back, then Yuki was suddenly hit by several more shards of ice from the two smaller glalie who had got back up. She became too distracted to dodge or attack, only capable of enduring the attacks and screaming when Sharon struck Yuki with a Thunderbolt. The outnumbered froslass fell to the floor, immediately making Karli bolt from her hiding spot, however she was not the only pokémon to join the fight.

'Karli!' called Glim, afraid to move.

'Leave her alone!' screamed Karli.

When the dark cloud dissipated, Reggie had gotten back on his feet, seemingly enraged and burning a green fire. He lunged forward, hitting one of the glalie brothers, but his rage was dodged by Sharon and the other glalie, while Mark also lunged in, covered in huge icy rocks that appeared to have manifested around him as he smashed into the tough chesnaught. The two behemoths were then trying to force each other back with nothing other than brute strength. Sharon meanwhile was met by a weak attack to her head, a bright flash that hit her back and made her slightly dizzy, followed by Karli throwing Magical Leaf at her and the remaining glalie brother. The attack barely fazed the glalie, who retaliated by vomiting a stream of ice, not only forcing Karli back, but rapidly coating her in ice. The little kirlia was frozen, appearing enraged, yet hurt, but also sitting down from being knocked back. Seeing Karli get frozen made Glim gasp, dying to help, but he knew he would not stand a chance.

The giant glalie was hit back with Reggie's knee to his teeth and while Mark screamed in pain, the chesnaught delivered a straight fist to his icy face, knocking the glalie back once more. Suddenly the one smaller glalie and Sharon retaliated firing streams of ice and the exhausted paladin pokémon. With barely anymore strength to fight or endure, the chesnaught yelled out as he froze in place. Glim saw Reggie become frozen who was still standing, which was then suddenly tackled hard again by the smaller glalie. The tackle did not budge the frozen chesnaught, but the witnessing glaceon knew what was about to happen. Reggie's body began to disintegrate and fell to pieces.

The glalie brother started grumbling and swearing endlessly as he floated back to Sharon, who was examining the frozen kirlia.

'Pick him up, and take him home!' ordered Sharon, pointing at the unconscious Yuki.

Glim meanwhile had his paws over his crystal crown, terrified to come out and stuck worrying about what is going to happen to Karli and Yuki. He had to help, but he alone had no chance. He then remembered Angel could help, even if he only has one claw to lend.

'Welcome home dipshit!' said the glalie, glaring down at Yuki.

'Well serves you right!' yelled Sharon. 'No, actually. Wait till we get you home, you piece of shit!'

As Glim witnessed the unconscious froslass get slammed onto the glalie brother, he noticed the father glalie and the more damaged brother coming back. All of them were hurt from the fight and were then looking at Karli's body.

'Is that dinner?' asked Mark.

'No,' said Sharon, pointing at Karli. 'That, I know this, is a shiny kirlia. It would look good in my wall.'

'Who is she?' snarled the older glalie brother.

'Dunno, probably another freak, like him.' replied Sharon, nodding at Yuki.

At that point, Glim had heard enough and decided to sneak out a find Angel fast.

* * *

Outside Rejoice Square, the injured sneasel leaped down from the very high theatre wall and cleanly landed, performing a break fall. Angel looks back at the theatre and around.

'Where the hell are they?' shrugged Angel.

He did spot one glaceon and two kirlia within the audience, but neither of them were either Glim or Karli. Assuming they were not watching the show, he began to circle the theatre, when five minutes later, he heard a familiar call.

'Angel!' shouted Glim, running very desperately.

The sneasel glanced north, seeing the glaceon emerge from the street just ahead. Angel as usual tried his best to keep his calm and positivity, as seeing the glaceon made him smile. His face however did not show that he noticed that Karli was no longer present however.

'Yo Glim.' replied Angel happily, until his mood turned solid when he realised that Glim appeared extremely troubled. 'What's happened? Where's Karli?'

'I-I don't know! Karli and I were following some girl who was ambushed by a load of ice type assholes! They took Karli and are probably going to kill her and Yuki!'

'What! Wha- who's Yuki?'

'She's a froslass,' answered Glim, hastily turning and taking steps away. 'Come on, we've got to save them!'

'Lead the way!'

Just as quickly as the conversation started, the glaceon and sneasel fled, heading for what was known as 'home' around Mt Dwy. Little did they know, but someone was watching, from a long distance. Rising up from a neighbouring building, Sergeant had locked onto the oblivious glaceon and sneasel. Knowing those two as fugitives, the magnezone ascended in pursuit.


	9. Family reunion

Chapter 9  
'Family reunion'

* * *

Dashing through the snow, Glim spotted five figures in the usual white hurricane. As they did, Glim nudges the sneasel next to him, unintentionally hitting his sprained arm, signalling him to slow down. The family ahead were dangerous, three glalie and a froslass, who were strong enough to kill a brute chesnaught. Dragged by the froslass Sharon, was Karli, completely frozen and Yuki was lying unconscious over one of the glalie brothers. The family were approaching some dead end canyon.

'Is that them?' whispered Angel.

Glim only nodded, keeping his eyes on the family and hurried after them, when they passed around an iceberg. Using the snowstorm to his advantage, the little glaceon vanished in his pursuit, while the sneasel behind could only rely on his instincts. When Glim passed the large corner of ice, suddenly he leaped out, shocked and confused. The family were gone. All that he could see was a curved dead end wasteland. Angel meanwhile, had caught up, noticing that the glaceon was standing out in the open.

'Glim!' called Angel, with clenched teeth. 'What're you doing?'

'They're gone!' shouted Glim, running ahead.

'What?'

The injured sneasel leaped by the glaceon, sharing the same view of a long towering cliff of ice, curving round to the corner they had just left.

'Where'd they go?' said Angel, asking only himself as Glim ran closer to the walls of ice.

The glaceon stood with his side to the ice, looking to see any cracks or gaps they may not have noticed.

'Could there be a cave or something?' asked Angel, running up to the ice and stroking it with his working claw.

'That's what I'm looking for!' replied Glim. 'How the hell could they have disappeared like that? We were only like ten seconds behind'em.'

'Wait, hold on!' called Angel, frequently swaying his arm to his left and right, stroking the ice before him. Glim approached and Angel gave him a focused look as he began to walk to his left, making the little glaceon step aside. The sneasel stopped after taking four steps, 'Here, the ice here is pokémon made, artificial. There's probably a cave behind this.'

Angel was too busy examining the ice before him to notice that Glim had stepped back, before slamming himself into the wall and making a loud thud.

'Whoa, whoa, whoa!' shouted Angel, blocking the path between the glaceon and the ice. 'We don't-'

'What!' shouted Glim, angrily.

'Have you never played Metal Magearna Solid?'

'What? What the f-'

'We don't want to alert those assholes in there!' said Angel, pointing at the blockade of ice.

'Angel, we need to get in there, now! Got any better ideas?'

'Maybe.' he replied, staring at something far above, which Angel then pointed at. 'Is- is that a- what is that?'

Glim glanced around and looked up and noticed a wonky square patch sticking out of the white cliffs. The square had a coat of its own icicles and what seemed to have a dark grey outline to it. Both the glaceon and sneasel ran to the wall directly below it, as it was at least five metres high.

'Is that an air duct?' asked Angel, seemingly confused, before leaping up and scraping holes in the ice for him to keep his climb.

When the sneasel managed to get level with the anomaly, it was indeed an air duct, as he brushed off the icicles and dug his razor claw on the outside grate. Only after carving a few seconds, Angel pulled the grate off and tossed it aside. The duct had its usual airy noise and appearance of a dark chasm.

'It is.' called Angel, looking down at Glim. 'There must be a building or something around here.'

'Who cares, let's go!' said Glim, running up the wall, only to find the ladder of dentures left in the ice were tiny, even for his little paws. 'And how am I going to get up there?'

'I'll think of something.' said Angel, holding onto the vent, whilst sliding into it, legs first.

The desperate glaceon rolled his eyes in annoyance and came up with a reckless idea. He took several steps back, while Angel was rambling with ideas. Glim ran up to the wall, climbing it by only half way, forcing him to jump off and then fired a Shadow Ball at the snow below him. The ball of shadows exploded, sending the glaceon upward at a drastic rate, causing him to crash past the vent and on the steep icy slope above it.

'Whoa, shit!' said Angel, bracing himself.

By luck, Glim's sudden slide down, managed to land him on top of the vent, but due to its very small length from the wall, he was forced to only grab hold of the top of it. He was left dangling over the vent opening and struggling to climb into it. Angel then quickly hugged the glaceon and pulled him in.

'Bloody hell Glim.' said Angel, letting go of the little glaceon, as he turned and crawled ahead. 'If I knew you were that crazy, I wouldn't have helped you into Lopunny Cove, man.'

'I'm not crazy, I just want to save Karli!'

'You and me both, bro.'

* * *

Bolting out of her bed, Yuki woke up violently, finding herself in a room she hoped to never see again. The small bedroom, coated in ice, with no window, which she had suffered in throughout most of her childhood. The only source of light were of the dim corridor lights, left throughout the abandoned mine. All the timid froslass could hear were the angered chatter between Sharon and Mark. Though they were not shouting, Yuki had heard it all before and knew it would eventually degenerate into a competition of getting the last word. The sudden awakening had disorientated her sight and though she recognised her bedroom, Yuki did not notice the obese glalie, sitting in the corner opposite her.

'Mum!' called the glalie. 'He's awake!'

The voices silenced and Yuki knew what was about to happen if she did not act. Unfortunately, in trying to float upright, she immediately felt intense pain on her hollow back, while her left arm could only twitch, causing her to fall front onto the worker's bed she tried to get up from. As the hurt froslass tried a second time, she looked to the door to her right, to see the dreaded mother froslass about to grab her. Yuki quickly got up, trying to hit Sharon away, who blocked her attack with her left arm and pushed her back with her right arm. Yuki fell helplessly into the wall behind her. Sharon signalled for the glalie in the room to leave, pointing at the door. Meanwhile Mark, who waited for Scott to leave first, entered afterwards.

'Now listen here, you little shit!' said Sharon pointing at the angry froslass trying to get up. 'You had no entitlement to getting a sex change. I, as a mother, knew you were never supposed to be a woman. You think we are proud of you? No! I am not a happy bunny. Did you ever think about how we feel about your sex change?'

'Shut up!' shouted Yuki. 'Did you ever-'

Suddenly Sharon began repeatedly hitting the frail froslass, who could only cower until she cried, which then the mother stopped.

'How dare you, talk to your mother like that! You were in no position to put on this act. Who gave you that sex change?' demanded Sharon.

Yuki clenched her teeth, forcing her tears to stop, whilst still hiding herself under her arms.

'Do you really call it, a 'sex change' as if it's just an operation?'

'Yes.' interrupted Sharon.

'You have no idea, how it works or what I had to go through to achieve that!'

'How could you have achieved it, anyway? You came into this world a boy and anybody in our family would have said so otherwise. I asked your auntie Susan if she saw you a man or woman, she didn't say you were a woman.'

'Listen to me. For once, will you fucking listen to me!' screamed Yuki, rapidly turning red.

'Uh, oi!' shouted Mark stomping his heavy body of ice on the ground, trying to intimidate Yuki.

Sharon held out her hand, telling the glalie behind her to keep back, followed by slapping the froslass before her. 'Don't throw a hissy at me young man! I am asking you, nicely. Who gave you your sex change?'

Yuki, twitching in uncontrollable fear and helpless rage, incapable of saving herself or talking her way out, only looked deep into the pitiless pretty eyes of Sharon.

'You, wouldn't last a minute with them.' Yuki hissed. 'You think you know what's right for me, yet here you are, with your minions once again, interrogating me, because you don't understand me.'

'No, no, no.' interrupted Sharon. 'I never said that. I have never interrogated you. You, don't understand yourself.'

'Oh my god, just kill me, you lying monster!' screamed Yuki, trying to hit Sharon again, who easily blocked her.

'Oh grow up!' shouted Sharon, as the giant glalie floated past her. 'Hit him Mark.'

Outside the main structure, a loud scream echoed, resembling a banshee who had lost her lover.

* * *

Angel and Glim reached an opening above what appeared to be a walkway, when Yuki's scream could be heard echoing. The sneasel stopped for a moment, placing his ear, over the grate to the room below.

'Did you hear that?' said Angel, asking the glaceon just behind him.

'Yeah, it came from the left, wherever we are.'

Moving forward slightly, the sneasel tried to get as much of a look as he could get of the corridor below. Seeing no one or hearing any kind of footsteps, Angel dug his razor claw between the razor thin gap between the grate and air duct. In one stroke the grate broke and swung open, creaking on its hinges. Angel grabbed hold of the side without the grate's hinges and lowered himself below with his one claw.

As Angel held on, he looked up and whispered. 'Then let's-'

'Hey!' shouted Alex, from the other end of the corridor. 'Intruder!'

'Fuck!' grunted Angel, letting go and swiftly bolting ahead.

Glim meanwhile watched the sneasel leg it, who was pursued by the two glalie brothers, moving much slower. Neither of Alex or Scott looked up at the vent, while the little glaceon had taken a step back, only seeing the two glalie chase after Angel. At first, Glim was tempted to aid Angel, but realised the opportunity to find Karli and Yuki. Seeing that Angel was much faster than the glalie brothers, the glaceon decided to let them go. He then waited a little longer, just in case Mark or Sharon were also in the chase. Five seconds passed with the corridor only getting quieter. With the coast clear, Glim stuck his head out of the vent, before dropping out of it and landing so delicately on the freezing surface.

The surrounding environment was mostly made up of rock, with poorly setup metal beams supporting the cave. Alongside the vent which Glim had left, had almost a wall of pipes neighbouring it along the wall to his right. As for the source of the light, there were only olden cave lanterns hung up by the doors, making the long corridor appear very dark at the centre.

Glim ran to the end, where the glalie had come from, only hoping it was to lead back to their domain. Leaving the corridor, the glaceon found himself to be on a raised walkway, in a rather large factory of sorts. The cave was silent, no machines were running or even buzzing with energy. The walkway was built along a heavily lit up wall of ice and had two doorways. Glim tried to remember the scream he heard earlier, which only sounded to be coming from the left and that was when he was in the air duct. Picking blindly, the glaceon hurried to the doorway on the opposite end of the walkway, listening out as much as he could.

* * *

Angel leaped over a control mechanism that was coated in ice, missing the controls as he rolled across the hard ground. Shortly behind the sneasel, Alex belted his horn against the tight doorway and levitated over the controls, while Scott, just behind his brother jumped, hitting the ceiling and bouncing off the controls. Somehow, that destructive manoeuvre set the control panel to flicker online and distortedly buzz into action.

Running blindly, Angel rushed down a sloped corridor, which brought him to a large room that was also a dead end. The sneasel did not realise he was trapped until he leaped over two conveyor belts and a larger machine that appeared to be a dome with thick cables coming out of the top of it. Assuming that there was another exit, Angel simply crashed into the wall, while his built up momentum sprung him back, thudding against the giant dome-shaped machine. It was only a matter of time before the two glalie were going to find him, since the large machine was rather obvious cover, the sneasel thought.  
Angel looked to his left, seeing the chasm of darkness that the conveyor belt was leading to, just next to him. The chasm from where he stood looked more natural that the tunnel corridors Angel had ran though. Due to the sheer darkness, the sneasel could not see anything, even if he was right next to it and knowing the machine was presumably designed to throw something down there, Angel was not keen to jump down there.

Only seconds after Angel had crashed, the glalie brothers entered the room. Immediately, Alex began looking behind the monitors and conveyor belts. Scott on the other hand leaped over his older brother and proceeded to the lonely dome. As the glalie brothers searched, the conveyor belts, began to twitch and squeak, shaking off the built up frost like dust. Several lights within the chasm began flickering and making creaking noises from above. Meanwhile, a siren sounded as the dome machine began flickering. The noise made Angel jump and accidentally let out a light squirm. His cry, though short, alerted the brothers immediately of his location.

The sneasel turned and jumped onto the tall dome machine, grabbing hold of one of the large cables and saw Scott checking round the dome below. The younger glalie was unaware of Angel's manoeuvre, but when the sneasel climbed up, Alex spotted and jumped after him, attempting to Headbutt him. With a second to spare, Angel mankey swung on the cable and landed on Alex as he flew up, stomping as hard as he could. The tactic turned into a collision, as Alex carried on, crashing into the wall near where the sneasel had crashed earlier, while Angel was hit up slightly, making him lose his balance and landing on his back, hitting the corner of the middle conveyor belt. Angel grunted in pain and quickly rolled forward in case the other glalie was just behind him. His prediction was not far off, seeing as Scott was also in the air, attempting to drop Headbutt the small sneasel. Angel saw an opportunity to strike hard, by taking a small backward step, right as the glalie sunk his horns into the rocky floor, the sneasel countered with a Metal Claw, swinging his razor claw upward. Immediately, Angel's arm had glowed silver, fiercely hardening his claw, whilst sending Scott up, crashing against into the ceiling and with three major gashes behind his head. Despite the sheer pain ice types suffer from steel type attacks, the glalie's adrenaline prevented him from feeling it, keeping him silent. When Scott fell to the floor, Angel's felt smaller as the metal mutation dissipated, but was still pulsing a strange glow. It caught his attention for a moment, but Angel did not realise that the glow was his razor claw helping him to evolve.

Ahead of Angel, who was slightly distracted, Alex quickly got back up, side shifting to his left and summoned a beam of ice. As soon as the series of glassy clinkering noises sounded, Angel leaped left, dodge rolling over the conveyor belt, which was at full motion. Landing neatly on his feet, the sneasel noticed the lights around the chasm wall were flickering long enough to reveal two machines that looked like claws. As soon as he saw them, the enormous claws automatically descended at the same time and pace. Keen to keep moving, Angel leaped forward, onto the conveyor belt to his left, while Alex, in mid-air, fired another Ice Beam at the floor below the sneasel. The slow moving belt did not hinder Angel much, despite it was moving backward and when he reached the edge, in level with the long fence against the chasm, he leaped and grappled onto the left claw pipeline. The claw itself was still descending below Angel, while he was just below the engine, built and supported at the centre of the massive chasm. Taking one look down and Angel could not see a thing, due to the lack of light.

'What an idiot!' blurted Scott, struggling to get back up.

The older glalie pursued, stopping up against the fence and fired yet another stream of ice. It was obvious to where it was being fired Angel thought, so he leaped onto the neighbouring claw, almost ten metres behind. Due to the claw's movement and the sneasel only having one working claw, Angel was sliding down the large pipe that continued to drop. Suddenly the claw he tried to climb up had stopped and shook violently, like it hit something. Angel had not fallen far, but the glalie brothers were waiting against the fence. Just as suddenly, the claw began to rise.

'Take the right!' said Alex to his brother.

Both glalie formed a freezing white ball before their huge faces, when Angel looked over to the other claw, which had a chunk of ice stuck around one part of the pipeline, from Alex's last Ice Beam. The sneasel leaped from the rising mechanism as the glalie were preparing to fire their attacks. Scott as ordered, hit the right claw pipeline, creating ice all around it, as Alex delayed his attack for a second. Angel landed on the chunk of ice, which clearly showed that the left claw was also rising, he then quickly jumped backward, as Alex fired again. The sneasel dug his razor claw into the wall only metres behind the claws and stayed still. The ice block that was stuck grew much bigger from Alex's second Ice Beam, but as soon as it rose into the mechanism, the whole block broke apart into smaller boulders. Angel let go of the wall, falling right in front of one of the boulders and kicked it as hard as he could. The boulder of ice flew up and smashed into the fence between Alex and Scott, who quickly moved back. Angel meanwhile, glided forward to grab onto the same mechanism again. When he succeeded, he found himself only a metre above the massive metal claw itself, which appeared to have an actual boulder within its grasp. Thinking quickly, the sneasel hung single handed, and the claw that was dripping wet, using the boulder to shield himself. His plan at first was to kick the boulder at the brothers, oblivious to how heavy it was, but he noticed it was big enough to hide his three foot body.

The claw reached the top, stopping instantly. The glalie brothers were still tense, eyeing the claws which were both holding similar chunks a soaked stone. Scott moved closer to the fence to look down the chasm.

'Did he fall off?' said Scott.

Alex stayed focused on the two rocks, figuring that Angel was small enough to hide behind them. The machines were making several loud cocking noises and began to slowly shift closer to the conveyor belts. When the two claws stopped just over the reinforced chain belts, Scott also looked up, while Alex jumped onto the belt, attempting to look on the other side of the held boulder.

As anticipated, Angel shot an Ice Shard right into the eye of Alex, just as he moved left enough to see the sneasel. Reacting to the glalie's sudden yell in pain, Scott stared at his brother, who then fell back, after hitting the end of the conveyor belt and landing him on the floor. Meanwhile the claw had twitched suddenly, indicating it had unlocked. Angel quickly positioned himself to face where he last saw Scott and blindly kicked the giant boulder, as hard as he could. Luckily for the glalie, one of the three claws, holding the boulder prevented Angel from sending it directly at him. Instead, the heavy boulder hammered the surface just next to Scott, as if it was a rhyperior using Rock Wrecker. The glalie jumped back in shock, hitting up against the fence. Angel had hurt his feet just doing that, making him groan in pain.

The glalie below noticed Angel, hanging with one claw and quickly used Ice Beam. The sneasel pulled himself up, which would not have mattered, as Scott ended up hitting the same claw finger that saved him. Getting hit by the stream of ice, caused the claw to start windmill spinning and when Scott noticed that, he continued using Ice Beam until the sneasel was unable to hold on anymore. It did not look like it, but the claw had spun at a great speed when Angel flew off it, unfortunately flying over the fence and leaving him to fall down the chasm.

'Ah shit!' blurted Angel, hitting the chasm wall and sending him to spiral.

The sneasel took a moment to recover his balance and resorted to his only method of stopping. Doing his best to glide over to a wall, he used his razor claw to dig into it, to slow his fall. By that time, his velocity had him falling very fast into the pitch black darkness. As soon as he slammed his razor claw into solid earth, his own claw began to steam and burn, making him growl louder the longer he took to slow. As he began to slow, the razor claw began to glow and slowly, his right ear began to grow, rapidly growing out of his head, while his claws and feet began to grow a third claw-finger. The intense pain was making the sneasel ignore it, but his highest tail fin had merged into the fin below it, while many more quickly grew around his neck and the back of his head. Coming to a sudden stop and shouting while doing so, the unique blue and turquoise light that was coming from Angel had stopped.

'Whoa!' shouted Angel in surprise, surveying what he could see of his body.

Angel realised how different he felt, his injured claw no longer felt in half as he just threw off the bandage that tore doing the evolution. He felt he had three claw-fingers, instead of two and was suddenly another foot taller. The feel of his toes and claws made him shake his body in joy, yet shocked. The sensation felt incredibly unusual for him.

'Holy shit!' cried Angel, happily. 'I've evolved baby, yeah! Oh crap.'

Not forgetting he was dangling in an abyss, Angel forced his other claw into the rock, sinking it much easier than before. Surprised by the force he had, he pulled away his claw and felt a huge chunk of rock just falling from the wall, like he had driven an excadrill into it. The weavile then laughed in shock, before resuming his climb.

'Oh yeah, this is awesome. Just you wait Karli, Glim!'

* * *

The little glaceon proceeded through the tunnels, trying to follow the scream he heard earlier until he led himself to a more natural ice cavern. Peeking around the corner of the heavy iced cave, Glim approached what appeared to be a supported metal house. Judging by the multiple pipes dug from the ceiling of the cave to provide oxygen, the house might have been the first accommodation structure for the mine. The cave walls however, looked poorly dug, thought Glim, until he noticed a faint silhouette in the long wall ahead of him. He squinted at first, trying to make out what he was seeing, but then noticed looking at the corner of ice he was creeping around had a kingdra in it. The sight made Glim gasp lightly, jumping back. The kingdra had her eyes tightly closed and appeared to be leaning back. When the glaceon noticed the kingdra, he looked at the wall just next to him, faintly seeing a frozen arbok, a pupitar, another arbok and a pinsir. Before turning around completely, Glim realised the whole cave was a gallery of frozen pokémon. The sight put tightening volts into the glaceon's spine and hind legs, making him cringe.

'Grow up!' shouted Sharon, whose voice could easily be heard coming from the house.

Glim quickly came out of his gaze of horror, glancing back at the house. As much as he wanted to rescue Karli, his blood began to heat up, just hearing the froslass mother again. She sounded rather like his own mother, with a poor posh accent with no shame of showing her arrogance. Seeing the frozen pokémon too made him realise, the family had been kidnapping pokémon for some time. The glaceon looked back, wanting Angel to come back at any moment, but remembered that he was already distracting the two glalie brothers. Glim was on his own.

Without thinking, Glim only had to hear the voices of the parents again, just chatting, to make the little glaceon to lose his patience and run toward the house. Leaning against the wall of metal, covered in ice, Glim crawled up to the doorway, which was wide enough to let two charizard pass through. The chatter was coming from the far left room on the bottom floor. The door to Yuki's bedroom looked rather narrow, but judging by the multiple scrapes and dents, the father glalie had stormed in there many times before. The glaceon already thought about just looking for Karli, whilst the rest of the family was occupied, thinking that the family would likely kill him. The whole gallery of frozen pokémon was instant evidence of their hostility.

Glim had a plan, though he had never seen a froslass until today, he had heard enough about them to recognise one and knew they were vulnerable to ghost attacks. With the use of Shadow Ball, the mother, having already fought previously, may be the easier target to knock out, but then there was Mark. The father glalie, was much bigger and having seen him fight the chesnaught earlier, Glim was going to need Angel to help take him out. Unless, the glaceon could strike him fast and hard whilst unaware. The only need for him, was for Glim to overcome his fear and to sneak around the sofa. His plan may sound simple, but knowing what the cold blooded family could do and being on his own, the glaceon was having sensations pushing him away. Feelings telling him to just forget Yuki and instead find Karli, or to find Angel or even to abandon all three of them. The fear was making him breathe heavily, seeming all too familiar to other family events he suffered.

The glaceon's train of thought was derailed, when he heard Sharon raise her voice once more, a slapping noise and the very emotional scream of Yuki. It was a combination, of distress, rage and pain. Three tones in one scream that gave Glim a flashback of his own parents, doing the same to him. Still hyperventilating, the glaceon's flashback blinded his sense of fear, as his eyes twitched and casually walked into the structure.

Keeping to his strategy, Glim was creeping over to the long, ice-covered sofa, trying to keep his footing as light as possible. He was getting so angry and pushy to attack, his voices screaming for him to blow the room up with Shadow Ball.

'You've twisted this,' shouted Sharon, shaking her head, tightly holding Yuki's bruised face. 'so far out of proportion, y'know? It's your own fault for hav'n the sex change. We've always said that you were a boy, you were born that way and no one would see you any different.'

'And you think-' interrupted Yuki, trying to stop Sharon's rant.

'This isn't my fault, your father's fault. Your fault.'

'Would you-'

'Not my fault, not your father's fault. Your fault.'

'Listen to me!' screamed Yuki, biting Sharon's hand, making her scream extremely loudly.

The mother froslass let go, leaping back, like she had been hit by a charging rampardos. To the witnessing glaceon and little Yuki's point of view, it seemed obvious to them that Sharon only screamed for Mark's attention and prompt a more aggressive reaction. When the mother screamed, the giant glalie in question was already fuming, but that was also when the eyes of the badly beaten froslass had met those of the tense glaceon, peeking over the sofa. Yuki's expression was masked by distraught, trauma and rage, when Glim's eyes were also showing fire, yet concern and somehow remaining so aggressively pretty. The sparkles in his beautiful eyes, sparked a speck of hope for the broken froslass, whose whole body was then tackled into the wall by Mark.

Glim reacted quickly, leaping from the sofa and roared a ball of shadows, directly at Mark, who had his back to the glaceon. The glalie disappeared further into the room, grunting in pain, hidden deep in the cloud of black mist projected from the attack.

'What was that?' demanded Sharon.

'Let her go!' yelled Glim, feeling the chilling rush, like he was standing up to his own parents.

Shooting blindly into the thick black mist, Glim generated his beam of rainbows, only hoping to hit either parent. The fog dissipated quickly when his Signal Beam impacted, revealing to be deflected by some glowing counterforce. It was Sharon, using Ice Beam on the other side, pushing the multi-coloured ray back. The raging glaceon did not notice the froslass fighting back, until he had to take a breath, which prompted Sharon to leap up and Mark to charge furiously at Glim who tried to fire another Shadow Ball, but was not quick enough. What became of the glaceon's attack merely burst upward, while he was head-butted with the sofa just below him and hurled through the tight window by amazing luck. The momentum had Glim sliding across the frozen ground on his front, which was aching from the attack.

During the brawl, Yuki, who was heavily damaged and suffered a torn arm, did her best to float back up again. Sharon, who was just in front of her, left the room and remained floating near the door, looking out for the glaceon.

Glim was not hurt too much, so he thought and limped back onto his paws with an open opportunity to run, having been flung in front of the exit. But then, emerging just around the corner were the two glalie brothers, Alex and Scott. They seemed tense and surprised to see the glaceon. The bigger glalie had clearly taken damage to his eye, which he kept squinting, while Scott had awkwardly bent horns and a chunk of ice missing from the crown between them. Seeing them, gave Glim a feeling of dread, not of his peril, but wondering what became of his friend. Running was no longer an option it seemed.

A loud pound sounded far behind the glaceon, which was Mark, sitting between the double doors. His anger seemed to be pointing at the glalie brothers. Sharon behind the father glalie temporarily left and picked something up, which Glim could see through the window, just to the left of Mark.

'This one is mine!' said Mark.

Alex and Scott took a step back, blocking the exit and Sharon returned, floating just next to her husband. Wearing a dark grey necklace, which had a multi-coloured stone in the middle of it. The glaceon was not sure of the reason for their stalling and was only waiting for the right moment to attack. The froslass glared at Glim and touched the jewel, which sparkled brightly, chain-reacting with the oddly shaped crown on Mark's head. The glaceon did not notice it at first, but it also had an unusual rock, frozen within the ice that also beamed brightly. Mark's whole body then flashed like an explosion and when the light of multiple colours faded, the glalie appeared to be even bigger, forcing himself to nudge out from the door frame. His two horns grew bigger, covered with ice and his mouth became far bigger and remained open. The jaw also grew two horns of ice but was also spikey and black, like he now had a beard. The ugly transformation made Glim's ears lower, horrified and confused, never seeing anything like it. First thinking that the family was in some relation to Martyr because of that.

When the glalie had finished transforming, Sharon was suddenly tackled by Yuki, who flew from the doorway behind her. Even though Yuki was hurt badly, she succeeded in constricting her mother, causing the both of them to roll violently on the floor, screaming and wailing attacks blindly as they did. Mark looked to his left, witnessing the brawl. The interruption gave the lonely glaceon his opportunity, swiftly blasting a Shadow Ball to the distracted giant glalie who was not quick enough to dodge it. Mark smashed back into the house, disappearing in a dark cloud again. Alex and Scott, witnessing the commotion were about to move forward, intending to aid Sharon, but just when Alex made his first movement, he and his brother were grabbed by their horns. Between them, a weavile came forward and pulled them back slightly.

'Guess who's back, fuckers!' said Angel, jumping and kicking the both of them away.

The glalie brothers were only kicked into the walls next to them, when Angel turned for the bigger glalie to his left, grabbed him, rolled onto his back and threw Alex into Scott. The little brother was sunk into the ice wall, while Alex bounced into the air, spinning wildly. The glaceon meanwhile turned round, happy to see the weavile, too tense to realise that he had evolved though.

'Angel!' cried Glim.

'You alright?'

The glaceon ran past Angel, heading out of the little cave. 'We've gotta go, now!'

'What? I was enjoying-'

Suddenly the front of the house broke apart, with Mark furiously charging forward, roaring like an exploud and with the eyes of an espurr. The giant glalie seemingly ignored the two froslass, as he bolted towards Angel, whose expression turned big-eyed.

'Whoa!' Angel shouted, legging it. 'What the hell is that!'

It did not take long for the much faster weavile to catch up to the little glaceon, while the giant glalie was also rapidly catching up. When Angel passed Glim, on a long metal overbridge, he quickly turned, unwilling for the boy to be hurt by the monster pursuing them. If his timing was right, he could hit Mark away with a Metal Claw, just before he could catch up to either of them. The glaceon was still running to pass his friend, when he noticed Angel raising his claw, making it glow silver and mutate longer claws.

That was the first time, Glim had noticed that Angel had evolved, but was too occupied to stop or think. He noticed that the weavile was not giving him eye contact and was in fact looking at something chasing just behind him. Glim passed the weavile, who happened to swing his massive silver claw at that moment, causing a loud, sharp clanging sound to echo throughout the enormous room. Mark roared in agony, getting flung off the narrow bridge. The glaceon was propelled forward from the collision force between Angel and Mark, causing little Glim to roll forward, with chippings of ice scattered all along the bridge.

With three long scratch marks, the evolved glalie fell, crashing onto the floor below, coated in ice dust. The large room, judging by the few apparatus, appeared to be for regular work stations, but never got initiated. The icy dust flung upward, poorly veiling Mark. Angel, well above leaned over the fence, laughing in smug.

'Ha ha!' he blurted, pointing down at the enraged monster. 'Take that! Take that! Mother-'

During Angel's rant, Mark balanced himself on the ice and leaped up like he was shot from a cannon, punishing the taunting weavile by smashing the overbridge completely in two. The half that Glim and Angel were standing on had completely broken off and froze up on impact, sending the two to fly off the bridge and also crash onto the unused floor below. The rest of the bridge, connected to the cave they just left, remained hanging on its remaining supports. His attack nudged the glalie back in mid-air, causing him to land back in the middle of the room.

At the back, just behind the remains of the fallen bridge, Angel and Glim burst out of the piles of icy dust. Glim was serious, landing in a tense stance, hiding what fear was in his legs and ready to fight for his life. Angel, having been struck by karma, only shook his head shamefully.

Metres away, the angry glalie shook what ice dust he had caught on his horns. Realising he was about to attack, the weavile quickly darted past Glim and took a threatening stance, preparing another Metal Claw. Unthreatened, Mark leaped forward and swung his side horns to collide with Angel, who tried to clash with his hardened, silver claw. Upon impact, the glalie took little damage having successfully hit the weavile upward, sending him into the air and fall behind the big-mouthed monster. Immediately afterward, Mark was forced back by a ray of rainbows, beaming from Glim's mouth. Mark was pushed into Angel who was struggling to get back up, due to the forceful shoving originating from the glaceon. Getting more frustrated, Mark growled louder and resorted to hitting the ground below, hard enough to cause an earthquake. Getting the full force of the attack, the grown weavile was launched into the air, yelling in agony, while Glim, even in his distance was also projected back, practically fisted by the ground below him. The Signal Beam faded and the little glaceon was hurled onto the fallen bridge, breaking his fall. Angel, on the other side had a much softer crash, only falling onto the mass pile of ice dust. But being so close to Mark in that attack had developed a great pain in his back and left arm, like he had been hit by a sledgehammer.

Glim hastily got back up, but was not quick enough to attack the enormous head monster recklessly ramming into him. The glaceon only jumped in a poor attempt to dodge, leaving him to face the force of Mark's Headbutt. The glalie continued charging ahead, while Glim was slumped on his crown, between his enormous forehead horn and right horn. Mark kept moving until he slammed into the rocky wall he was speeding to, crushing the glaceon against it, who wheezed out on impact. It could have been fatally worse, as most of the crash was absorbed by Mark's giant front horn, but Glim was still heavily pinned against the wall and in capable of moving. The giant glalie tried to grind the glaceon, who looked so tiny in that position, by forcing his body left and digging his horn through the wall. Glim could feel the force of the rocks scraping his cold hardened back, but despite the pain, he had no breath to scream and just struggled.

The weavile had mobilised, his pain drowned out by adrenaline, seeing the attack ahead made him think that Glim was going to be killed. Angel, with fury in his eye bolted to the left side of the room, where Mark was heading and tensed up his right claw, letting the metamorphosis activate again. When he was close enough, he back swung his claw against the momentum, hitting Mark with what felt like a sharp axe. Unaware of how powerful his adrenaline made him, Angel's attack caused the ice monster to spiral backward, out of the wall and fly into the wall to their right. Both the weavile and glalie roared in pain. Angel had fractured his claw doing that and Mark's facial armour and jaw received multiple cracks. The attack had the weavile tightly grasping his claw, hopping in pain, continuously roaring as he did.

'God damn it!' shouted Angel, eventually stopping and violently shaking his claw.

Meanwhile, breathing deeply on his back was the little glaceon who merely fell off Mark when he was catapulted from the wall. There was a frequent pulsating ache on Glim's back as he twitched, trying to get back up. Ahead of him, he saw his friend, still waving his claw, trying to shake off his pain. But then, far above Glim, two long arms stretched down, wrapping around the arms and body of the oblivious weavile who was facing the opposite direction. The arms were of Sharon, apparently winning her fight with Yuki. Angel was already in a tight bind by the time he realised he was about to be grappled. He struggled as the froslass rose the weavile upward and then suddenly, he flashed brightly, as lightning started sparking in adjacent directions.

'How dare you attack my husband!' hissed Sharon, gradually floating closer to the violently twitching pokémon.

Glim saw that Sharon was oblivious to his own presence and rose. The little glaceon sucked in air, summoning paranormal energy in a slow pace, due to his exhaustion. He then fired the Shadow Ball, directed at the airborne froslass. Just before it was about to impact, the smaller glalie brother swooped in, intercepting the ball of shadows, blocking the attack to his mother. The Shadow Ball promptly exploded, sending Scott to crash into Sharon, who was forced to let go of Angel, who helplessly fell to the ice. Sharon screamed loudly, as she crashed into the same wall as Mark did. The faithful block by Scott surprised Glim, who was then confronted by a much bigger glalie landing on top of him. Alex appeared to have taken a severe beating, covered in scratches and lack of ice. He forced little Glim down, with what energy he had left.

The menacing sharp claw pokémon rapidly stood back, badly hurt, yet tense from the lightning. Just in time to witness the giant glalie zoom in rage from the wall, easily revenge head-butting the paralysed weavile and sending him flying into the wall behind.

Witnessing Angel's peril just ahead, Glim felt to have more energy than the bully trying to pin him down. The glaceon rolled sideways, out of the pinning and when Alex attempted to bite him, Glim kicked the icicle still stuck in Alex's eye, using his hind legs. The Ice Shard clearly sunk deeper into the glalie's eye, making Alex roar and fall on his back. Glim meanwhile was numb to the agony in front of him. He turned left and quickly fired another Shadow Ball toward the massive glalie slowly approaching Angel. Suddenly the attack was intercepted again, blocked by another Shadow Ball that was fired from Sharon.

The detonation of two Shadow Ball created an enormous flash, a shockwave that shook the surrounding cave and dispersed a large cloud of darkness. Glim remained tense, waiting silently, anticipating either Sharon or Mark to emerge from the cloud at any moment. Coincidentally, the family within the fog were also waiting for it to dissipate. When it did, Sharon, Mark and Scott were all staring toward the little glaceon. All of them had bloodlust in their eyes. Scott was hurt, ice broken from his armour, Sharon just next to him had clearly taken rough attacks from Yuki. Both of them were nothing compared to Mark, who was missing ice from all around his body, his jaw was clearly dislocated and Angel's recent attack had left three very visible cracks, like scars trenching all across his facial armour.

The stunned weavile, barely capable of movement in his position could only sit, with his back to the wall, twitching like he was numb, while his willpower was trying to restart his body.

'Kill him.' Sharon hissed quickly, glaring at Glim.

Following orders like a good houndour, Mark growled and jumped up high, attempting to crush Glim with an Earthquake, when all of a sudden, the glalie seemed to explode. The flash was blindingly bright and deafening, causing everyone on the floor to duck down. Mark was heard smashing to pieces against the wall behind him, without making any reactions of pain.

'Mark!' screamed Sharon, looking back at the broken monster, just sliding down.

The glalie appeared to degenerate into his original form, but even then, his horns just fell off and blood gushed from his left side.

Glim glanced upward, to the source of the attack and could not believe his eyes. Near the tunnel, where he and Angel attempted to escape, was the unmistakable magnezone from Hydrangea's Royal Talon.

'Stand down, everyone!' ordered Sergeant, levitating above the scene.

'You just killed my husband!' screamed Sharon.

'He's not dead, froslass.'

'You killed him!' she continued, while the Sergeant's attempts to interrupt would not stop her. 'You could have killed me! How dare you attack me! What did we ever do to you! What did we ever do to you!'

Frustrated from the senseless yammering from Sharon, the magnezone genuinely developed an angry expression for its one eye and emitted an extremely loud screeching noise. The unbearable shriek sounded like metal loudly scraping slowly against a blunt blender, making everyone hold their ears tightly, except for the three glalie who had no arms or hands.

'I said stand down!' roared Sergeant, like it was using a megaphone. 'I am an officer of the law and I am here to sort all this out! What is happening?'

Looking back at the deeply broken glalie, Sharon zoomed over to Mark and hugged him like some hero.

'If you're an officer, than you need to know right now!' cried Sharon, who then pointed at Glim and the paralysed weavile. 'It was him and him! They came here to attack us!' she screamed, as loud as she could.

'No!' argued Glim, running out to stand below the magnezone. 'Angel and I were here to save our friend-'

'To kill us!' interrupted Sharon. 'Take'em away officer! They're murderers!'

Angel finally managed to stand and interjected 'says the froslass with tons of frozen bodies in that cave-'

Sharon interrupted again, spouting the same excuse, while Glim remained looking up at Sergeant, who was staring back. The magnezone's expression was emotionless and the glaceon knew it recognised him.

'Silence!' called Sergeant, using Metal Sound as a whistle.

Everyone fell silent again as the attention seemed to dawn on Glim and the sergeant far above him.

'Are you not Glim?' asked Sergeant. 'The little male glaceon who escaped from Hydrangea's Royal Talon Prison yesterday?' the little glaceon stayed silent, his pupils began to shrink. 'The same one whom I was called to arrest on the ship, which was then ordered to be destroyed?'

'That wasn't his fault!' interjected Angel. 'We all stood up against you! You're so called "law", what law is there now!'

Sergeant was quick to identify Angel, to be the same individual who stood up to him previously as a sneasel.

'You see officer?' said Sharon. 'They're nothing but criminals! Freaks!'

'No!' cried Glim, getting flustered and increasing in his breath rate. 'Just look in that cave! Our friends are up there!'

Angel pointed up at the same cave. 'Yes! Take a look-'

'Liars! If you look there, they'll run away officer!' interrupted Sharon.

The giant metallic pokémon took one brief look toward the cave, Glim and Angel kept weakly pointing at, but as Sharon was predicting, Sergeant did not want the two before him to run when he was distracted. However, one look at the tunnel entrance, gave him a glimpse of something white, only it could see from where it remained afloat.

'You're the liars!' argued Angel angrily, at Sharon. 'I have never seen a family more twisted than my own!'

The mother froslass retaliated 'It was you! Who broke into our home, attacked us! And we were defending ourselves!'

While Angel, Glim and Sharon continued arguing, Sergeant became fixated on what appeared to be nudging its way out onto the severely broken overhead bridge. The magnezone levitated over to the bridge, seeing the unusual white anomaly, was another froslass. It was Yuki and she was badly hurt, crawling herself out of the cave. She seemed to be lying on her left, so it was not until Sergeant was right up against the wall that neighboured the bridge, did Yuki spot the magnezone.

'Don't l-listen to them.' stuttered Yuki.

The magnezone swiftly drew closer to the hurt froslass, which was noticed by Sharon at the back. Angel meanwhile was in a new argument with Scott about what happened to Alex and how he was intruding their home.

'Are you alright?' asked Sergeant. 'Who's "them"? Please answer.'

The words of the magnezone, despite being much quieter than the argument below had seemed louder, catching everyone's attention.

'My family!' growled Yuki. 'They're monsters, who have been abducting civilians.'

'Don't listen to a thing he says!' yelled Sharon.

'The glaceon… I saw him. He tried to save me. His- his friend is also here… a kirlia.'

'He's lying! Just like all trannies!'

That last statement made the Sergeant take one look at Sharon. Its expression seemed confused, surprised and angry all at once, but not for the froslass in front of it.

'You see…? She can't even accept her own child, who she gave birth to… and tried to kill.'

The room fell silent as Sergeant scanned Yuki's wounded body, as its eye glowed redder and brighter, clearly burning in anger. When the scan ceased, the cold metallic pokémon paused.

'Miss froslass.' said Sergeant boldly, talking to the mother.

'Look out!' called Angel.

Suddenly a huge ball of shadows flew toward the fallen Yuki. The magnezone only had enough time to float on its side, between the Shadow Ball and injured froslass. The attack exploded, forcing the magnezone into the bridge, along with Yuki who it was protecting. The two were then veiled by a thick cloud.

'No!' shouted Angel, turning to the mother froslass who had a distressed, yet enraged expression.

The weavile, furiously attempted to approach Sharon, but was quickly hit up against the wall by Scott. Glim leaped to his left, also trying to confront the dreaded froslass. But just as he breathed in to summon another Shadow Ball, he was struck to his face by a lightning bolt, coming from the same monster. His crown thankfully absorbed the lightning, but Sharon continued electrifying the glaceon, who struggled to stay standing. She flew closer and grabbed Glim by the head while he was stunned and resumed her Thunderbolt. In the position she was doing it, the glaceon could only scream, losing all control of his paws.

Angel rose his claws and belted Scott on his head as hard as he could. His lack of energy and movement was preventing the weavile to escape the glalie's pin any quicker. Thinking tactically, Angel made one last hit on Scott, which was on his horn, making him rotate majorly, which allowed enough leg room for the weavile to climb onto the glalie's head. The paralysis was luckily not holding Angel back so much, as he leaped up, heading toward Sharon, who was busy frying the little glaceon. With gravity on his side, Angel swooped down, forming his claw into a long black and sharp figure and swished it through the froslass, leaving the weavile to crash next to Glim, who was released.

Sharon remained still at first, holding onto her hollow dress, which had severe cuts going across her body. That however was the least of her worries. She recognised her head to have a very similar rip, covering almost half her head.

'Mum!' cried Scott.

The froslass did not say anything and tried to look back, before her body deteriorated into dust, starting at where her body was torn. The younger glalie cried out for his mother again, which awoke something nearby.

Angel did his best to stand back up, but could only get onto his knees. In front of him was the electrified glaceon, twitching in pain, tensing his eyes and clenching his teeth. Only hearing the voice of Scott seconds ago, Angel looked back at him, with the best face of intimidation he could give. It seemed to work, as the glalie levitated back, looking over at Alex and back at Angel. However, the weavile noticed something else, a pair of red eyes, beaming from the wall to Angel's left. Emerging from the crater of rock, Mark roared, making a creepy hissing noise within his scream as he savagely charged towards Angel, who was also turning rogue. Before Mark could even reach the weavile, he was intercepted again, exploding into pieces completely and creating a bloody mess. He was hit by a Flash Cannon, which had temporarily blinded Angel for a moment. The weavile knew it had to have come from the sergeant, so he glanced back at the bridge, to see that it was still there. The bridge was a little crooked after Sharon's attack, but Sergeant and Yuki were still in one piece.

'Thanks.' said Angel, nodding.

'I… didn't…' stammered Sergeant.

Angel paused, looking up at the magnezone, who remained staring at the splattered remains of Mark. The weavile's attention shifted to the glaceon who was grunting in pain and trying to move.

'Glim, you alright?' asked Angel, not getting a vocal answer, but a slight nod from Glim. 'Is Yuki okay?'

'Yuki is secure and will recover.' announced Sergeant, levitating behind her, to see her face. 'Her injuries are not life-threatening.'

With the allies checked out, both Sergeant and Angel looked over at Scott, floating next to Alex, who remained breathing heavily, on his back. The younger glalie was trying to hide the fear in his face, but his eyes showed an obvious sense of tension to the weavile. Angel got up and furiously ran over to Scott.

Scott panicked 'No! Get away from me-'

Angel grabbed the small glalie and slammed him against the wall they were closest to.

'Weavile!' warned Sergeant.

Angel fiercely demanded 'If you two want to live, you'll show us where Karli is!'

'Y- yes, yes! I'll show you where it is, just let me go!'

'Let him go, weavile.' said Sergeant.

Reluctantly, Angel let go of the glalie who levitated onto the bridge and entered the cave of frozen pokémon. Shortly afterward, the weavile climbed up onto the bridge, which proved to be a bit of a struggle, due to his shocked state. In fact, only steps after landing on the bridge, the paralysis forced Angel's legs to weaken, making him fall to his knees.

Angel grunted. 'Damn it!'

'Are you okay?' asked Sergeant.

'Not yet.' replied Angel, getting back up and proceeding into the tunnel.

The magnezone continued to watch the weavile, while pulling the wounded froslass over the top of its oval shaped body with a unique form of magnetism.

'Is that okay for you?' said Sergeant, asking Yuki.

'Yes. But, please get me back to my colleagues, ASAP.'

'Will do in just a minute.'

Still on the floor below, Glim was still having trouble in standing up. He managed to roll onto his front, but could not stand up.

'Need a magnet Glim?' asked Sergeant, getting an odd look from Yuki and Glim. 'Well, I don't have hands or paws.'

'Weren't you going to arrest me?' replied Glim.

'No. But… this is not the time to discuss this. I need to get you lot out of here.'

'B-but, Karli!'

'Karli too, don't worry Glim. In fact, judging by what I saw, I may be coming here a lot in future. How many frozen pokémon were in there?'

'A lot. And I don't even know if they could survive that.'

'We'll find out for sure, later. But for now, let's get you out of here.'

* * *

An hour later, a civil investigation was started, after Yuki was reported found and returned to her friends, while getting informed of her ambush and the death of Reggie the chesnaught. Yuki was not fatally wounded, but was treated for what the attack had done to their star actress. In response to the attacks, Alex and Scott were arrested by local authorities and being held for further questioning of what other crimes their family had committed.

Glim and Angel assumed that Sergeant was doing the arrests and investigation, but they were wrong. The magnezone wished to remain anonymous and left the matter to the local police, who began their operation of carving out the frozen pokémon and thawing them, one by one.

The thawing process was the most dangerous part, as the victim could break apart if mishandled or burn to death if melted too quickly. On top of that, every pokémon varied from body tempatures and body stability, making the whole process dangerously delicate. Since Karli was first rescued, she would be the first to be revived, which was still going to take a few hours.

The brave glaceon and weavile, who had triumphed in their mission were receiving major gratitude from Yuki's theatre division. Having taken beatings of their own, they were also receiving help from the medical team. It only took at least two cheri berries to heal their states of shock, while their stamina would come back on its own. Despite their determination to save Yuki, Glim and Angel were not sharing the same room as her, but they were fine with that. The glaceon was more concerned about Karli, while the weavile was able to regain his cool and joke a bit. During their rest, they were talking to the lucario pianist, the empoleon announcer and one of the scyther violinist. Though respected, Glim and Angel felt very out of place in the happy go lucky team, but also because they had friends to check up on.

'If you ever need any help.' said the well-mannered lucario. 'I am sure dearest Yuki will be willing to repay for your rescue.'

'Pft, by "repay" he means sex.' blurted the scyther.

Angel laughed, while the lucario only smiled, shaking his head. Glim smiled too, trying to keep their spirit up, which was more difficult than it seemed. The glaceon was just disturbed by all that happened today, as with the previous few days. A day had not gone by without something so traumatising or tragic happening.

'Thank you.' replied Glim, talking for Angel. 'And we'll remember that.'

The glaceon turned and moved ahead, only a metre from Angel, who rushed up to Glim like he was getting left behind.

'Whoa, slow down Glim.'

'Hard. I want to know how Karli and Beryl and Belle are doing.'

'Oh crap, yeah!'

Suddenly, Angel's jokey attitude sunk, taken over by his seriousness again. Glim meanwhile was just happy to not lose a friend, even though he had to witness the deaths of Mark and Sharon in front of him.

'So… you okay?' asked Angel.

The little glaceon was awkwardly silent for a moment, before mumbling 'yes.' Angel always saw that way of answering as a no and that Glim did not want to speak, so he stayed quiet also.

* * *

It was only a twenty minute walk to get from Yuki's lodging over to Camellias General Hospital. Glim and Angel were not in too much of a rush, due to their exhaustion, but before they could approach the entrance, they spotted the sergeant, looking out to the sea. The weavile pointed the magnezone out.

'D'you wanna…?' asked Angel, nodding over at Sergeant.

'Yeah, yeah.' replied Glim.

The magnezone had a bold, troubled look in its eyes, like it was in deep thought.

'Hey.' called Angel, getting Sergeant's attention.

'Oh, hello. Can I help you?'

Angel and Glim paused, just staring at the magnezone.

'Well…' said Angel. 'Glim said earlier, that you weren't going to arrest us.'

'Correct.'

'Does that mean, you're… willingly betraying the Republic?'

Sergeant paused. 'Can I tell you something? Angel isn't it?'

'Yeah, yeah.' replied Angel, noticing the strange deep change from the magnezone.

'Well, back in the cave, I kind of broke a bit, I think.' said Sergeant, making the weavile puzzle. 'Right when I killed Mark, remember?'

'Ah yes. You sort of just stayed there in denial, can I ask what that was about?'

Sergeant paused again, looking down, meeting the pretty eyes of the sad glaceon.

'Well… I've never- that was the first time I had ever killed someone, you see. Never have I ever needed to kill or follow an order to execute someone.'

'That's why you attacked the hydreigon on the ferry, wasn't it?' asked Angel, while Sergeant looked back at the weavile, who had his caring expression. 'I heard you mention the Prime Minister or something.'

'When that crowd, including yourself, started rebelling against him, the Prime Minister himself… ordered me to destroy the ship. And kill everyone on it. How could you expect me to follow an order like that? I'm just a high ranking police officer, not a monster. Not like Nicolai. I left the Republic hours ago, deactivated by tracker and everything.'

'So, you're one of us now?'

'No, not yet. I will happily join the Crimson Revolution, offer the knowledge I have against the Prime Minister. But for now…' said Sergeant, levitating round to face the sea, in the direction of Hydrangea City. 'I have some… unfinished business to attend to.'

'Where're you going?' asked Glim.

'I'd hate to get your hopes up, little Glim.'

'Huh?'

'Do you remember, during your interrogation, Vice and I kept looking over at that window?'

In a flashback, Glim saw himself sat defencelessly behind the table. The vicious metagross called out 'confirm' to a pitch black window, which only received a hard knock.

'Yeah… I was wondering why you looked at it so much.'

'Well, what I will tell you, is that there was a rather complicated argument going on at the time and we were only given vague advice, about what to say to you.'

'O-okay.' replied Glim, confused.

'If the facts have not changed, I will return with haste. Is that okay?'

Still looking away from the glaceon and weavile was giving Angel cause for concern, like Sergeant was planning a suicide mission.

'Okay, but… don't get yourself killed.' said Angel.

'Sorry, but I cannot promise that. And by the way, Angel.' said Sergeant, levitating round to face the weavile. 'Your braixen friend needs you more than ever right now.'

'W-what, you mean Beryl? Where is he?'

The cold magnezone pointed one of its magnets toward the tremendous hospital they were previously about to visit. Without any hesitation, Angel bolted to it, while Glim looked back at Sergeant with a deep look of sorrow, recognising the saddened expression on the magnezone who remained staring at the hospital.

* * *

Already past the main reception, which had quieted down majorly since they first arrived, but there were still patients just laying on makeshift beds, while more pokémon were queuing to donate blood. Angel entered the left treatment room, remembering how big those rooms were. The noise had picked up, due to every cubical getting used and with emergency crews having arrived from around Camellias.

The journey to Belle's cubical felt so incredibly slow for the weavile for some reason, but even before the main walkway, Beryl was sat on a waiting bench, holding his head tightly. He had clearly been crying and his breathing was still breaking. His arm had multiple plasters on it, where he had equipment put into him.

'Beryl?' asked Angel.

Instantly, the braixen stood, ran over to hug the weavile, already knowing it was Angel. The fox boy however, broke into tears as soon as he embraced him.

'Beryl, Beryl!' struggled Angel, placing his claws on the braixen's shoulders and looking at him face to face. 'What's wrong? Where's Belle?'

The pretty fox pokémon slowly regained his breath, holding Angel's claws while he did.

'They… they managed to- to…' stuttered Beryl, having to breathe more and more, but also resist crying. 'They managed to save her… but she's never coming back.' he said, breaking down again, creating a thin waterfall of tears.

'What- what do you mean?'

Unable to use his words, Beryl took Angel's claw and they walked down the long path to Belle's cubical. It was the same one she was being operated on, with Beryl, when they were rescued. It was almost silent on the outside, except for one sound, a repetitive beeping sound. Already, Angel knew what to expect. He opened the curtain, to find nobody there, just a little budew, left of a heated bed for plant pokémon. She was wearing a carbon dioxide mask, allowing her to breathe and had multiple sensors stuck to her, but other than that, Belle was motionless and alone.

Angel entered first, staring at the unconscious budew, who was clearly alive, but then he looked back at Beryl, who had calmed down a little.

'The operation… was a success, but… she apparently died four times and b-because of her state when they found us, her brain was already too late to save. She's never going to wake up.' said Beryl, taking a moment to breathe. 'And they said… and they said she will only remain alive on life support… so we will have to decide when to take her off it, because she's already dead.'

Immediately, Beryl broke down again, sitting down on one of the folding chairs. Angel meanwhile knelt down, at the side of the bed, just watching the little plant pokémon.

'Are there any more options?' asked Angel. 'I mean, is there anything else they haven't tried?'

Not even looking at the weavile, Beryl just shook his head. Angel sighed in response, looking back to the sleeping budew before him. She looked fine, Belle's plant body was a bright green, there were no creases in her buds or the leaves she was wrapped in. But depression would sink in quickly, when Angel would notice the onslaught of medical equipment hooked around. Not the sensors, but the bed in particular, it was sizzling hot for the ice pokémon who was leaning against it. The bed itself was some kind of specialist soil that was so grounded, it made Belle look like she was lying in a comfortable bean bag. Even the light above them, though it felt like an olden street lamp, it was a specialised light, designed to replicate sunlight, trapping the warm air in a soft amber glow. Surveying the equipment however, was not lifting Angel's hope.

'Did she say anything?' Angel mumbled.

'Sorry?'

'Did she say anything? Like… while you two were stuck together, did she talk?'

Beryl weakly nodded. 'Before the doctor put me to sleep the first time round… she was coming to. She kept nudging me and asking for you. I-I tried my best to reassure her, telling her that you would be coming. I remember she also asked for her mum and dad… but I didn't know what to say.'

Angel shook his head, stroking the unbothered side of the budew with his claw.

'I never told her… but her parents were already dead when I found her, during Iris' Dragon Raid.' said Angel, continually stroking the baby, while Beryl stayed quiet.

The room fell silent of any words, with the braixen getting his calm, having cried all the tears he thought he had. The weavile meanwhile, just stayed staring at the budew for a little longer. His head sank, only imagining where Belle might be or what she would be thinking right there. Even imagining what could happen if she was to wake up. She would probably get all excited to see Angel and move as much as she could, despite her condition, just rustling in the soil, like she wanted to leap out of it. The thought was enough to make Angel give an eye smile, but he knew it was not going to happen.

Finally, Angel broke his silence. 'Beryl.' the braixen looked over at Angel, knowing what he was about to say, just in the way he said his name. 'We're going to have to do it.'

Beryl just stared at him, too broken to argue or agree. Instead he nodded at the machine just next to where the weavile was kneeling.

'The plug's over there.' Beryl said, so weakly, like his voice was blocked.

Angel looked at the plug. It was very big, but seeing as the only thing keeping Belle alive, it was scary just looking at it. The weavile felt an even worse dread than he did when he was up against that massive glalie before. He looked over at the sleeping budew once more.

'Belle?' he whispered, leaning closer to the budew. 'Can you hear me? It's Angel, don't worry. You will be seeing mummy and daddy soon, okay? They'll be waiting for you… and if they ask, tell them you've been a good girl. Well, you may not have been going to bed on time, but I couldn't blame you for that, not with everything going on. Just…' Angel paused, thinking of a way to say goodbye, which began to tear inside. 'Stay happy, okay?'

The weavile resumed his stroking of the little plant baby pokémon. Beryl nearby could see the strain, watching Angel's threshold getting weaker as his eyes began to twitch and voice cracked during his last statement. When Angel was done, he wrapped his claw over the plug and remained looking at the baby, whose life was literally in his claw. Just placing his claw around it froze up his will, having no strength to pull it. The weavile looked back and forth at the plug, seemingly getting angry and breathing quicker. The sight was making Beryl tear up again and make his lips tremble. Stuck, staring at the plug, Angel grunted angrily, looking down and loosening his grip for a moment.

'Is there really nothing we can't do?' Angel asked, not even looking at the braixen.

'Angel… you shouldn't tell lies, to help the child sleep.'

The weavile sighed, losing his threshold, looking back at Belle. For once, his eyes began to tear up.

'Then… could you do this with me? I don't want her to think that I was alone, when sending her off.' said Angel, while Beryl subtly nodded, slowly moving behind the weavile who was only slightly taller than him. 'This is really the hardest thing I've ever had to do.'

The braixen passed Angel by a margin to also see the budew, whose life they were ending as he placed his claw over the weavile's. Angel remained staring at little Belle, as did Beryl, just waiting for the dreaded command. He could not feel any movement or cold, placing his claw over Angel's, like the weavile was dead inside. All that changed when Angel sighed once more.

'On three… okay?' he said, so coldly.

'Okay.' stuttered Beryl, almost saying nothing.

'One… two.'

At the same time, the two boys ripped the plug from the machine. Replacing the ignored beeping with the chilling constant sound of one long beep. Knowing that had finished it, Angel just stood, as lifeless as the baby before him. Beryl let go of the plug and hugged the weavile, beginning to leak tears again.


	10. Delaying the storm

Chapter 10  
'Delaying the storm'

* * *

Hours after her rescue, Karli finally left Camellias General Hospital. She was escorted out on a small wheelchair, by Glim, who had to walk on his hind legs to push the chair. The kirlia in front of the glaceon had changed colours drastically. Her usual blue hair had darkened and lost a bit of its colour, while her orange horns had also darkened. Due to what happened, she was practically locked in a very thick coat, shivering for warmth. Karli however, seemed calm, keeping her large hood up enough to see where Glim was taking her.

The little glaceon, much like the kirlia he was escorting was in a broken state. Stung with shock over what happened in a matter of hours, from witnessing Yuki's attack, to ending up getting Karli frozen and Glim getting beaten badly. He was lucky that Angel and Sergeant joined the fray, and having no injuries on top of his success, it seemed like Glim had more than jirachi watching over him. Despite that, his mood was frosty.

'Glim?' asked Karli, barely able to move her head. 'You're awful quiet. You mind telling me what happened?'

The glaceon did not answer, continuing to prod the wheelchair to the actor's lodge, where Yuki and her crew were staying. Karli had already heard of Glim and Angel saving both herself and the froslass actress. She was also made aware of being the first person to be unthawed, of the family's victims. Other than that, the kirlia was still in the dark about where Angel was, why Glim appeared to be in such a gloomy mood again and whether or not Yuki was okay. Karli did recognise that the glaceon did not want to speak, but tried to encourage him by repeating his name. The glaceon still gave no reply, as if he was ignoring her. It did annoy Karli, she really wanted to know, but after hearing of the beatings Glim, Yuki and Angel went through, she understood his silence. Glim was most likely exhausted and frightened, remembering that they had fought Martyr earlier that day.

It was not long before the quiet glaceon had taken his kirlia friend to the desolate chalet, where she was to fill a lot of her blanks. From the outside, same as when he and Angel left it, the place was jumping with activity. It was a large place thankfully, big enough to house Yuki's colleagues and surviving refugees from the vessel attack that morning. To Glim, his escape from that ship and Martyr's attack felt like days ago and only thinking about it made him dizzy. He was ready to fall onto the soft snow and 'let the musharna carry him to sleep', which was part of a nursery rhyme.

Karli was wheeled just next to the door, giving Glim some space to knock. However, his presence was already detected as the door opened just before he could knock, revealing the gentleman to be Mercury.

'Glim, welcome back.' he said, having to raise his voice slightly, due to the room to his right having a party.

'Hi, uh… um.' stuttered Glim, who then shook his head. 'Sorry, I can't remember your name.'

'Not at all brother, you're here to see Yuki, yes?'

Glim nodded weakly while Karli became upbeat with surprise and pulled back her hood. Mercury glanced at the kirlia and also became more cheerful.

'Yuki, she's here?' asked Karli.

'Ah! You're the shiny kirlia she mentioned earlier. So you're all friends then?' asked Mercury, looking over to little Glim. 'You, Angel and her?'

'Yeah, yeah.' blurted Karli happily, answering for Glim. 'We weren't alone either, and we'd like to speak to Yuki… if that's okay?'

'Of course it is!' replied Mercury. 'Yuki still has you to thank, but also offered to return the favour. Do you live in Camellias, have anywhere to stay?'

Glim sat down, letting Karli explain their situation. For some reason, he could not keep his ears up and watching the two pokémon speak was making the glaceon feel like he was moving backward.

'No, we're some of the survivors of today's ferry attack.'

'Oh god, really?'

'Yeah.'

'How many are there of you?'

'Well there's us two, Angel, a weavile. Beryl, a braixen-'

Without warning, Glim began leaning too far to his right as his vision began to darken.

'Whoa Glim!' called Karli, while the little glaceon thumped his head on the snow below.

'Is he alright?' asked Mercury, audibly crouching to the sleeping glaceon.

'He's just tired… long day.'

'Not a problem, come on in.'

* * *

Not far behind the tired glaceon and thawed kirlia, leaving the same hospital were Beryl and Angel. Rather like Glim, they were short of words as they had to leave a little broken about the little budew they had to lay to sleep. They walked close by, side by side, the braixen kept his head down slightly, just letting the weavile lead him wherever he was going. Compared to Beryl, the sharp claw pokémon was seemingly more hardened in his walk, not letting anyone see the depression in his eyes. Sure, Angel was a little emotionally sensitive, but he had a much greater threshold of it.

'Beryl, you alright mate?' whispered Angel.

The pretty braixen did not answer, pausing awkwardly, thinking for an answer, but it hurt him to think that he was okay, not that saying 'no' would have made him any better. So the boy just kept silent, but gave Angel a look of his distraught eyes and was sore from leaking tears, the weavile understood that look.

'Listen, I'm sorry about Belle, but I'm- and probably Glim too, are a little frosty, to say the least. I mean yo, we're crazy, but… I've got something I need to do and I think you should head up to Yuki's place, where we're staying if Glim can get us in.'

'What did you mean by "crazy"?' replied Beryl.

'Well, you know. Survived Iris' dragon bombing, I'm still cool. Rescued you two from Hydrangea prison, I'm still cool. Got bombed again, I'm still cool. Almost got my ass eaten by a bunch of pissed off glalie, I'm still cool. Had to let Belle…'

'Don't.' interjected Beryl.

'I know, sorry, but… hey, still cool.' said Angel, with a more miserable tone. 'But yeah, I think I've already lost it, you know?'

That last statement made Beryl look over to Angel with more comforting eyes, detecting the denial and pain just in the way the weavile was walking, yet not looking at the braixen. Beryl felt the opportunity to relate, or even to open out with him. It was not something he liked doing, but given their ordeal hours ago, it felt right.

'You want to know something truly crazy?' asked Beryl, raising to his usual sweet tone.

'Go ahead.'

'I'm not gay.'

A little confused, Angel glanced at Beryl, suddenly trying to hide a smirk.

'Then why are you holding my claw?'

Looking down, the weavile and braixen boys were claw in paw, but Beryl was holding Angel's claw at a firm grip.

'I just… I don't want to be alone right now.'

'Oh yeah, of course.' mocked Angel.

'I'm serious Angel!'

'I know, I know. But if someone calls us a couple or something, you're on your own. Besides, I have somewhere to go, if you're really keen to stick by?'

Only then did Beryl finally look up to see where the weavile was escorting him.

'Yeah, where're we going?'

* * *

In some black void, the little glaceon was curled into a ball on a desolate frozen wasteland. Despite the need for the cold, the ice pokémon shivered for warmth, as the wind began to breeze heavier. It felt unbearable to be cold, yet he felt the snow to be so comfortable, it was all so confusing. As if the wind, stroking his back was something else, riling his emotions, for which he could not resist. Glim knew the feeling, making his eyes water, for he missed his friends.

'Glim.' called Oswald, standing ahead of the cowering glaceon.

Glim glanced up at the familiar voice, not only seeing the easy-going fatherly infernape, but his wife Jane, Ben and Shadow. They were just there, staring at the little glaceon, with smiles. It gave the glaceon a speck of relief, hope and joy as he tried to raise a smile too. But he had no power to stand up and could only watch as his friends seemed to disintegrate to dust and get blown away in the wind. All except Shadow, had disappeared. The houndoom instead, drew closer to the little boy with tears in his eyes.

'Glim…' said Shadow, pausing with a more saddened expression. 'I know, it sucks, we didn't get much time together. But… maybe next time, okay?'

Frozen, yet fidgeting in cold, the glaceon remained staring up at the friendly houndoom who knelt down and kissed his crown of ice. Glim could felt the intense heat of his lips, warming even down to his tail, which the warmth then quickly faded, as Shadow turned and ran. The glaceon tried to cry out, unable to use any words as the houndoom ran, turning into dust and blew with the wind. Glim helplessly tried to reach out, only making him thump his head into the wet snow, making him give up holding back his resistance to cry.

Suddenly, Glim was not feeling so cold in a bad way and noticed that the snow he laid on was more comfortable than it appeared, especially where his head was. With his eyes open, the lonesome void revealed the glaceon to be in a dark bedroom, finding himself to be in a small sized hay bed, with a thin, heat-resistant pillow. The pillow had wet marks on it, telling Glim that he had cried in his sleep. Being awake and feeling his strength, he quickly wiped off his tears.

The room was almost silent and lonesome, like Glim had woken up in an abandoned house, with three empty beds surrounding his. The only noise he could hear was coming from behind the door, a sort of carefree chatter between three pokémon.

Outside of the small bedroom, was the main living room. Most of Yuki's acting division had gone to bed, especially the children, but at the long table, Mercury and Yuki were busy talking with Karli, who was out of her wheelchair. She was still wearing the cloth to keep herself a little warmer and had her tiny feet in a tub of boiling water. It was difficult to see, since kirlia are naturally pale white, but Karli's eyes and cheeks had an odd blue tint to them for being frozen.

'So when you came back, no one recognised you?' asked Karli, in mid-conversation.

'Nobody.' answered Yuki, shaking her head with a positive face.

'Nobod- I, didn't recognise her.' interrupted Mercury, seeming surprised. 'And I was her best friend back then.'

'Was?' quoted Yuki, looking at the lucario next to her.

Mercury rolled his eyes. 'You know what I meant.'

'It must have been horrible…' said Karli. 'Not just having parents like that, but… I mean…' the kirlia lifted the tiny dawn stone she had as part of her necklace. 'I know what it's like to want to be… but everyone tells you, you can't.'

Mercury interjected 'Actually-'

'I know,' said Yuki. 'As you can see, it is possible. So you know you were supposed to be a gallade, right?' Karli nods, sadly. 'Well you can, but, you would need to go through sexual reassignment.'

'I can't do that.' replied Karli, shaking her head.

The froslass seemed surprised. 'No?'

'I've always wanted to be a gallade… that doesn't make me a boy inside.'

'Oh true.' said Yuki, cupping her mouth, seeming deep in thought.

'It's why I've been a kirlia for over like, eleven years.'

Mercury gave a surprised mumble. 'How old are you now? If you don't-'

'Twenty.' answered Karli.

'Yeah,' nodded Mercury. 'Most pokémon would have evolved by that age.'

'I am very sorry, Karli,' said Yuki. 'But even I have never heard of a female gallade.'

Karli sighed in annoyance, having heard that before. 'I know, I know… but that doesn't stop me from giving up.'

'Of course not,' replied Yuki, both her and the lucario were shaking their heads. 'In fact, we respect that.'

'Thanks.'

To Karli's right, metres away, a bedroom door opened and from it, a tired little glaceon stumbled out. His eyes were dark and miserable. The marks of tears on his face became more visible as he walked into the light. He paused, only just leaving the bedroom, while Karli and Yuki only stared at him, detecting the misery from the little glaceon and becoming worried for him.

'Glim?' said Karli. 'Are you alright?'

Mercury leaned over, unable to see the glaceon with Yuki between them. 'If you're wonder where you are, you're in our chalet accommodation. You passed out my friend.'

'What is the matter, Glim?' asked Yuki.

Glim paused, before croaking 'I had a bad dream.'

Judging by his state and the tone of the little glaceon's voice, Glim was resisting to cry. Karli would have remained positive and try to persuade Glim to fight the nightmare, but after what they had been through that day, she could imagine what he saw.

'Aw, come sweetheart.' said Karli, patting the cushion next to her. 'Tell us about the dream, if you want.'

The frail glaceon was awake enough to walk in his usual elegance, but only two hours sleep was not enough to recover fully. He sat by the kirlia, also a little tired for not going to bed and still recovering from her defrosting. Glim was quiet, whilst the others gave him a minute to stabilise.

Feeling that the glaceon was perhaps uncomfortable to say anything, Karli asked 'So… how are you, Glim? You told me you and Angel got into quite the brawl.'

The depressed glaceon looked at the froslass across the table.

'Are you okay with me talking about your parents?' asked Glim.

'Oh of course,' replied Yuki. 'Do not mistake that I was close to them, you already saw how rough they were to me.'

'Twice actually.' nodded Glim. 'I was there when Karli tried to save you, and your big friend was killed.'

'Yeah… Reggie.'

'Your family seemed so hostile, even before they attacked you and I know what that is like. My parents… were rather like yours.' the glaceon and froslass paused, trading expressions of sorrow. 'Believing themselves to be always right, even when they didn't understand me, yet still thinking they knew what was best for me.'

Yuki nodded coldly, knowing that feeling.

'Did they...' interjected Mercury. 'Did you evolve into a glaceon because of them?' Glim stared at the lucario blankly. 'You hear eevee stories like this all the time, where the parents want their child to evolve into what "suits" them best, while the eevee wants to be something different. But because it's irreversible, it gets taken so seriously.'

Glim nodded. 'My mother wanted me to evolve into an umbreon, or a vaporeon because I couldn't swim for a long time.'

'Was she either of those?' asked Karli.

Glim shook his head. 'No, my mother was a sylveon.'

'Ah yep, the usual.' said Mercury, shrugging.

'What about your father?' asked Karli.

'He's not an eeveelution.' answered Glim. 'My father's a slaking.'

Suddenly, the sorrowful expressions turned into surprised faces with hints of disgust.

'Oh my god,' muttered Mercury. 'A slaking? Then it's no wonder you faced such grief.'

'Yeah,' said Karli. 'You know that slaking are like… one of the top ten worst pokémon to be parents.'

The glaceon nodded, not looking at anyone in the eye.

'So why glaceon, may I ask?' asked Yuki.

Glim shook his head, only annoyed by the recurring question. 'It's complicated, I don't even know how it happened.'

'Well traditionally,' said Mercury. 'Rather like the special stones, when an eevee touches ice at its coldest-'

'Yeah, I know how an eevee evolves into a glaceon.' interrupted Glim. 'But… I was nowhere near any caves of ice at the time. At least… as cold as Dwy.'

The three pokémon paused, before Karli said 'where were you at the time?'

'When I evolved, I was at Jasmine, nearby Mount Scad. They said I evolved in my sleep.'

'Did something happen?' asked Yuki.

The glaceon just paused sadly, unwilling to talk about Oswald's death. The kirlia had a similar expression as Yuki's, except her curiosity was nagging her to pursue Glim's mysterious ordeal. However, it was obvious the boy did not want to talk about it and decided to change the subject.

'So, what was the dream about?'

The glaceon's mood perked up slightly, though he was still depressed. 'I just felt… so cold. I was in a blizzard, curled up and powerless. Like when you don't want to move, otherwise you'll get colder. I heard an old friend call my name, but when I looked up, I could see my friends. The same ones who saved me, but… I couldn't save them. They looked happy at first… and then just left. I couldn't move, but Shadow stayed. He was… sort of my boyfriend, a houndoom. He came up to me and said something about us meeting together in the next life.'

'I am so sorry Glim.' said Yuki, while Mercury nodded. 'You know, dreams can often resemble all kinds of psychic phenomenon. Perhaps your friends were trying to communicate to you, or maybe your mind was trying to find them. I am guessing you miss them dearly?'

'I do.' nodded Glim, his voice breaking, his torso feeling a compressing sensation.

The kirlia sensing that the little glaceon was on the threshold of crying moved closer to Glim to comfort him, placing her arm around him and let him lean against her. Glim easily resisted breaking down, but tears began to slowly slide against his control.

'Glim.' whispered Yuki, in a caring tone.

'It would be best if you guys had a day off.' suggested Mercury. 'Your weavile friend was saying about setting off for Haine?'

'Angel.' replied Glim.

'Yes him, but even by flight, the capital is still a good…' paused Mercury, looking to Yuki. 'What, eighty miles southeast?'

'It could not be any less than eighty by flying, I would imagine.' replied Yuki.

'Yeah, and you guys are travelling as a pack and still need to cross that freezing V channel somehow.'

'Fuck.' blurted Karli, miserably. 'No more ferries too.'

'Actually…' interjected Yuki, pausing to think. 'I know some friends who could help you with that.'

'Really, who?'

'It will be my way of thanking you most dearly, for saving me. Though you will have to leave that with me. For today, I think it best if you and your friends were to calm.'

'Yeah,' Mercury agreed. 'You, him and Angel were badly hurt from yesterday, which we still haven't thanked you for!' said the lucario, leaning forward, a little angry with himself.

The froslass giggled while Karli smiled.

'W-well, you have let us stay here.' stuttered Karli.

'That was just kindness, because of your ferry tragedy yesterday.'

'Do not worry, Merc.' interrupted Yuki. 'Why not take a visit to the Camellias spa? Our colleagues go there regularly, including myself. We will cover the charges.'

'Oh okay.' replied Karli, looking and stroking Glim's head. 'Call me a hypocrite for running a dress store, but I'm not… really super princess girlie girl.'

'What the hell does that mean?' asked Mercury.

'I am guessing you have never been to one before,' said Yuki to Karli. 'No need to get uncomfortable, sweetheart. You two will feel so much better afterward, trust me. Go with Miley and Whitney when they wake up later.'

'Uh- w-will do, thank you.' replied Karli.

'Are you two not going to go to bed?'

'I would but…' answered Karli, looking back at the door nearby. 'I want to know when Angel, Belle and Beryl get here, so I know they're alright.'

* * *

'Was this… where you were once?' asked Beryl.

Just ahead of the braixen, Angel paused, only slightly nudging the gates open.

'More like where I was abandoned.' he answered, before pushing the right-side gate open.

The weavile entered the snow covered garden, leaving the gate to slowly swing against Beryl who leaped passed before it hit him. Angel only carried on, already knocking on the gigantic doors. The braixen looked up to see the enormous grey building, being unusually artistic for an orphanage. The architecture resembled a mansion for someone wealthy, yet haunted with evidence of decay and destruction. Words were clearly carved on the arch, curving over the gates, but the words had lost their paint and were difficult to read with a naked eye.

Beryl quickly caught up with Angel and stood by him as the weavile waited. Unfamiliar to the location, the braixen observed the surroundings of the old building. He had guessed that the facility was an orphanage, but Beryl felt so uncomfortable in the silence, while Angel stood so still next to him.

'Um… is this, an orphanage?' asked Beryl, giving the most awkward hint of questioning, yet feeling so embarrassed for asking it.

Angel gave the braixen one emotionless look. 'It is.' he said, resuming to his silent stare at the door.

Finally, the door rocked violently, before opening, appearing to be very heavy as the senior miltank nurse was showing struggle to pulling it open.

'Sorry Angel, my dear.' she said.

The weavile stepped in, shaking his head. 'No, it's alright. You guys work yourselves-'

Entering the main landing, Angel paused, noticing most of the key workers and carers in quiet conversation with each other, all in the same room. Some of the staff were crying, who were then being escorted to the kitchen ahead, by the gardevoir carer. Angel was confused, the staff never huddle like that, unless something terrible has happened.

'Wait, the hell's going on?' asked Angel to himself.

He could have asked any staff member, since he trusted them like family, but the weavile spotted the manager, Kerry the gothitelle talking to two of her key workers, a machoke and a floatzel. They were discussing about Camellias' emergency services and what to do.

'Yo Kerry.' called Angel, quickly getting Kerry's attention, as the two men proceeded with their task.

'Angel, is that you?' she asked in a happy tone, which was heavily suppressed by her situation. 'My, how you've grown.'

The weavile could see the compression in her emotions and just cut straight to the chase.

'What's happened?'

Suddenly snapping back to reality, the gothitelle had a sadder expression, as she looked over at the door behind her, that had been left ajar. Angel recognised the door was for Gerald's office, the hypno he had spoken to earlier.

'It's Gerald, Angel.' Kerry whispered, shaking her head.

During the gothitelle's statement, Beryl had approached the conversation, just behind Angel.

'Can I… take a look?' asked Angel, seeming both serious and angry, rather than sad.

Kerry stared at the weavile with a complicated expression, hiding sorrow, her joy of reunion, but also her desire to deny, knowing that Angel and Gerald hated each other. The tall gothic pokémon then took a disgruntled sigh and looked away.

'Just don't touch him.'

'Kay.'

Angel approached the door, while Beryl stayed in place, watching him and giving one look at the sorrowful gothitelle. The weavile slowly opened the door cautiously, expecting a feral attack. But the more the door opened, the quicker he noticed the slow swaying body, hung high up in the office. He could not see the face, but Angel stared up at Gerald's body seemingly disheartened and miserable. 'It was better that way', he thought.

The weavile and his friend did not stay there for long. He only wanted to inform the staff that there will be no budew to take care anymore. Just hearing Angel updating the orphanage had hurt Beryl, who just could not understand how the brave weavile could possibly stomach everything he has been through that day. From surviving a ferry attack, saving Karli from a violent family, letting little Belle die under his own decision, and witnessing yet another death of a relative of his. It made Beryl worry for Angel, but also somewhat angry at him. At that time though, they were both too tired for anymore hell.

When Angel escorted the broken braixen to Yuki's chalet, they were not greeted or answered when he knocked on the door. The door was unlocked, so the weavile entered calmly, expecting trouble, due to the odd silence. Though it seemed obvious why it was so quiet when he entered. The little glaceon and kirlia were faced down on the table, almost snuggled up together and fast asleep.

Angel looked back to Beryl and whispered 'hey, d'you have your wand?'

'Yes, why?' replied Beryl, also whispering.

'Looks like we're not the only ones who need to hit the hay.' whispered Angel, pointing at the sleeping Glim and Karli.

As cute as they looked, the braixen was too depressed for any enchantment. The most comfortable way to get the glaceon and kirlia to bed was to levitate them to it, as opposed to physically picking them up. Angel silently crept past the table, while Beryl drew his wand from his tail, but immediately, something was wrong. The braixen just stood, sadly pointing his wand at the sleeping pokémon.

'Angel.' whispered Beryl, getting the weavile to look back to him. 'I-I can't do it… I'm…' he stuttered, lowering the wand and shaking his head.

Angel figured that braixen just had no energy at all, to even lift his little friends. The weavile nodded and gestured for Beryl to pick up Karli, who was closest to him, while Angel approached and carefully picked up Glim like a child. The little glaceon did not wake up during his ride back to bed, allowing the braixen and weavile to also call it a night.

* * *

The town of Camellias met its daylight very late in the morning, not that it was beautiful, with the clouds blocking so much of Crio's sky. It was nine in the morning when Angel woke up, realising he had been thrashing in his sleep and practically threw himself out of bed. He had his sleep and energy, and needed to walk. His mood was still frosty from yesterday, and whatever he had dreamt appeared to contribute to his attitude. The weavile left the house, letting his allies rest and not even telling any of Yuki's woken colleagues where he was going.

Half an hour later, Glim's pretty eyes slowly revealed themselves, a little dark eyed from the disordered sleep cycle. He did not remember getting back into bed, but curiosity was taken over by shock, as he realised his hay bed was being shared. When his sight had cleared, he recognised the unmistakable blue hair and pale white body to be Karli, who did not even have her usual white dress on, or her blue leggings. The glaceon stuck his head up, looking out of the bed, seeing two other single hay beds that seemed unused.

'What the hell!' whispered Glim.

In the corner opposite, Beryl was still sleeping and Glim had assumed that Angel had already left. Giving himself the chance to think, he remembered that Belle was supposed to be coming back with them, who perhaps needed a bed to herself due to her physical state. The glaceon was too drowsy to think any deeper. Glim attempted to lean forward, to carefully pull himself up without nudging the sleeping kirlia next to him too much, but as soon as he began, he saw the slender white arm come over and cuddle him. Karli had turned over and held onto the glaceon and held him tight. Glim could only watch in terror, knowing that his own freezing cold body was certain to wake her up. As predicted, the kirlia started twitching her eyes tightly and holding tighter, as if her body thought it would get warmer embracing a glaceon. Suddenly her eyes opened, similar to how Glim had woken up. Karli, half asleep just stared into those big, pretty and concerned eyes of the little glaceon.

'I-I can explain.' said Glim.

'You're freezing.' mumbled Karli, letting go of the glaceon and turned around, wrapping herself in the blanket she had all to herself. For a moment, Glim just laid in place, hoping that the kirlia would fall back asleep. Suddenly, Karli glanced back at the boy, just as surprised as he was. 'Wait, are you using my bed?'

'No-no-no! I just woke up here!' replied Glim, flustered and struggling to climb out of the hay bed.

'Who took off my dress, were we drunk?'

While Glim crawled out of the bed, landing on his tiny paws, the commotion was causing the braixen nearby to shuffle and wake up.

'Beryl?' said Glim, watching the feminine fox boy sit up, rubbing his eyes. 'Did you put us in bed together?'

'Sorry?' answered Beryl, snapping out of his drowsiness and Glim repeated his question. 'Well… Angel and I were so tired when we got here this morning, and you two looked so cute all snuggled up.'

Karli chuckled. 'Were we holding onto each other or something?'

'Wait, is Belle in that one?' asked Glim, softening his voice, pointing at the hay bed nearest to the door.

Due to the shapes of the beds, being rather bowl-shaped, it was difficult to know if little pokémon were using them. The glaceon looked back at Beryl, whose face sunk cold, with his large flamboyant ears dropping.

'Oh… you didn't know?' asked Beryl.

Immediately, Glim and Karli read the bad news, as if it was written on the braixen's face.

'What happened, Beryl?' asked Karli, sorrowful, expecting the worst.

'I…' Beryl stuttered, looking at the empty hay bed near the window. 'I don't want to tell you without Angel.'

The glaceon, heard that statement with a stroke of fear sliding up his back, as he looked back at Karli, who shared his worried expression.

Ten minutes later, the three left their room, unaware how late in the morning they woke. They were met by a whimsicott who was floating between them and the table behind him.

'Oh!' called Whitney, drifting back onto the table. 'Good morning! I was just asked to wake you up!' he cheered.

On the opposite end of the table, Yuki leaned to her right to look past the whimsicott. Whitney looked back at the froslass behind him, assuming she would give a 'good morning' to the friends. Yuki however, saw the dread on Beryl's face. Even though she had never met the braixen before, she could tell the distress was not for being new to the chalet. Glim and Karli had similar troubling looks.

'Good- good morning.' said Yuki, as politely as she could. 'Is something the matter, you seem-'

'Yeah, you seen Angel, Yuki?' asked Karli.

'Oh… sorry, he left a while ago.' she replied, looking at the door. 'He seemed very stressed, in my honest opinion.'

The kirlia shook her head depressingly. 'It's alright. Wait, did he tell you what happened to Belle?'

'Belle? That was… a budew you two were bringing here, was she not?' asked Yuki, looking puzzled at Beryl.

The braixen stepped back and raised his hands, meaning to slow down. 'Okay- well… we'll wait for Angel to come back okay?'

'Why can't you just tell us what happened Beryl?' asked Karli.

'I just can't!' argued Beryl, glancing at the kirlia next to him, with eyes appearing to be fighting sadness and rage. 'Not- not without Angel.' he muttered weakly, shaking his head.

By that time, Glim and Karli had already assumed that Belle was dead.

Angel came back, only five minutes later, when Beryl, Glim, Karli and Whitney were all sat down. He seemed serious again, only calmer. When the weavile came back, he paused, reading the curiosity in Glim and Karli's faces. They were all silent, staring with a question in their eyes. Angel hesitated, waiting for someone to speak. He wanted to be sure that his anticipation was not failing him, but when he looked at Beryl, the question in the air was obvious. The braixen boy may have been facing Angel, but his eyes were looking to the floor.

'Angel?' said Karli, getting his attention. 'Where's Belle?'

'Dead.' replied Angel, coldly. Karli nodded sadly and Glim's ears dropped, looking over at Karli, sat next to him. 'She survived the op, but it was already too late to save what was left of her.'

During his revelation, Beryl's head fell to his paws and his breathing got deeper and more frequent. The kirlia next to him could sense the distress and comforted Beryl, stroking him on the back.

'We are so sorry.' said Yuki, looking at both Beryl and Angel.

Angel moved to the table and slammed down a map and opened it.

'Yeah well, I've had it.'

'Angel?' puzzled Karli.

'I got this map today, a tourist map of Crio.' said Angel, unfolding a large, sized map. The map was big enough to show the whole region and isles of Crio, but due to its size, it was in minor detail. 'It shows here to Haine, which is where I'm going.'

'Wh- now?'

'Yes, I've seen enough-'

'Angel, slow down a minute!' interrupted Glim. 'Are you leaving us? Because we're going to Haine too.'

'Then are you ready?'

'After what happened yesterday, no. We need-'

'And I'm done waiting, Glim, Karli. People are dying, the Republic are not stopping and the longer we waste time, the more that will die! I'm going to join the revolution in Haine and that's that.'

Angel folded up the map. Karli and Glim watched, having nothing to say. The glaceon seemed worried for Angel, who was clearly being driven by anger. Karli meanwhile felt disappointed, though she respected the weavile, she felt that he was abandoning them.

'Angel,' said Yuki. 'Can I just make one plea?'

'What?'

'Haine might need you, but who will be here for these three?' she asked, looking at Beryl, little Karli and Glim.

The kirlia raised her hand toward the froslass opposite her, still staring at Angel. 'No, no. We can handle ourselves, thanks.'

Glim glanced at Karli, a little shocked and stayed quiet. Angel gestured at Karli, saying 'there you go' to Yuki.

'You want my opinion?' asked Angel.

'No.' Karli quickly replied.

'You're better off staying here, all of you. Getting yourselves involved, rescuing or fighting, is just going to get you killed. I've already bailed all three of you out from that!' he said, pointing at Beryl, Karli and Glim. 'For it, I had to foster a child, got my arm and ribs wrecked, my ass almost eaten by glalie and as if that shit wasn't bad enough, I had to rip out that cord to let Belle die!' Angel paused and then shook his head. 'I'm done… it was nice know'n you, but you're best stay'n here.'

On that note, the weavile stood straight, trying to put his map into his backpack.

'What makes you think they will?' asked Mercury, standing arms-crossed, between Angel and the door.

The weavile turned to face the lucario, resorting to slip his map into his coat pocket, the same coat he previously wore to keep Belle warmer. He then proceeded to pass to the door.

'I don't. Just saying they're best staying here.'

Angel left the chalet, without causing a scene or starting any drama, but his abandonment had left Glim and his friends a little disheartened. Karli however had a determined expression, like she was capable of standing for her friends, even though she knew she was easily overpowered by one glalie. Mercury seemingly ignored Angel's leave and approached Yuki, who resumed drinking her iced tea.

'Is he… worth persuading?' whispered Mercury to Yuki.

The froslass gave one look at the lucario, before looking at the three opposite her with a stern look.

'Do you have any idea, on how bad it is at Haine right now? That is if, you even get there.' said Yuki, while the friends just remained quiet. 'Please do not take my words to heart, but you certainly will not last long without him. That weavile was capable of fighting off my family, who were infamous, violent and had you outnumbered.'

Glim nodded, Karli was not going to deny and Beryl was only looking at his friends, as he was not present during that event. Yuki leaned over to Mercury, who also leaned closer.

'You know what to do?' asked Yuki.

Mercury stood straight and nodded. 'Don't worry, I'll talk to him.' he said, turning to leave.

'Wait, where's he going?' asked Glim.

'To talk to Angel.' replied Yuki. 'Neither you three or your friend is in any condition for such a place like Haine just yet. Angel is just impatient, bereaved and frustrated right now. So leave him to Mercury, he knows how to talk to men in that mood. As for you three.' she paused, looking to Whitney who stayed quiet, but then suddenly puffed up and began floating in joy.

'Yeah, yeah!' cheered Whitney. 'Spa party, spa party, let's go!'

Watching the whimsicott float around so joyously caught the three friends off guard. Glim and Beryl jumped in confusion.

'Oh yeah, I forgot about that.' said Karli, smiling awkwardly.

'Miley!' called Yuki. From the bedroom opposite the room in which Glim and his friends stayed in, a scarred female scyther peeked out. She was the same scyther who spoke to the glaceon and weavile the day before, after they rescued Yuki. 'When are you leaving for the spa today?'

'Just about to, luv.' she replied, smirking.

'Great, can you take these three with you? They-'

'Yep, totally!' she said, moving back into her room for something and called out 'Mercury already told me.'

'Okay then. Are you going to be okay with this?' asked Yuki, looking back at the three friends. 'You do deserve to relax.'

The glaceon nodded, he was still badly hurt from the family attack the day before. Karli's body was still suffering from the aftermath of having been frozen solid and Beryl was an emotional wreck. The conditions were also what Karli became concerned by, though she pretended that she herself had no problems and instead thought of her friends.

'I'm fine, but…' paused Karli, looking at the saddened braixen. 'Yeah, we could… do with just a day. Right Beryl?'

Still looking down, the braixen only nodded.

* * *

Southeast from Camellias, travelling along the isle coast, the outskirts of the large town, Angel was doing his best to find the path that avoids having to climb Mount Dwy. It seemed a little hopeless, since the incredible mountain of Crio was also oddly shaped. Its south side appeared to form a wall of alps that sloped all the way down the V channel. Hoping there was perhaps some pokémon-made way around the alps, the weavile proceeded all the way to very edge of the icy coast, only to find a sheer cliff and that the mountain keeps going, like a giant tree root. Despite his hope, Angel frustratingly found no bridge or tunnel. There was only a desolate, ice covered monument, dedicated to the tallest mountain in Crio. Angel was neither sight-seeing nor a historian, his plan was to get as southeast of the island as he could.

Angel's plan was to simply swim across the V channel, being a weavile, a cold pokémon so resistant to harsh freezing temperatures. Only ice type pokémon or those with thick fat could possibly swim across the infamously cold channel, not to mention the channel space from the main land was as wide as Hydrangea City.

Angel looked north, to see a way over the alps before him, as they appeared difficult to climb. He could see a less steep hill that would take explorers over the towering cliffs, but to get onto that, he had to walk back a quarter of a mile first. Undeterred from his setback, Angel turned to find the right path, but then he noticed someone. On the higher side of the slope ahead of the weavile, a lucario was waiting.

'What're you doing here?' said Angel, resuming his trail.

'Angel… I wanted to talk to you alone, so friends wouldn't get involved.'

The weavile stops, metres away from Mercury. 'With what?'

The lucario paused before saying 'You can't go to Haine, Angel. Not like this. Just look at yourself-'

'I'm fine. I can get to Haine on my own.'

'I'm sure you can, but that's not what I am trying to talk you out of.'

'What then?'

'Well, how long do you think you'll last in Haine, in your condition?'

'I said I'm fine!'

'No you're not. You're only pissed off and reckless anger will only take you so far.'

'Better that, than to let the fucking Republic take another life, like it don't matter!' shouted Angel, causing the two men to pause. 'Listen, mate, I'm not waiting anymore. After what happened yesterday, I ain't taking anymore shit.'

'I understand Angel. You want to help, you want to fight the corruption, as do many of your friends. But they need you Angel. In the short time I have known you, your aura has shown me tremendous feats of survival, same for Glim, Karli and Beryl. Except none of them can fight as well as you can. What will happen when they inevitably set off and you're not there to save them from a feral tyranitar?'

'It'll suck, yeah. But I've taken my responsibility, telling them to stay. I'm no baby sitter no more. I'm going to Haine and you're not stopping me.'

Angel proceeded to pass the lucario who remained standing tense, yet calm. When the weavile passed without any eye contact, Mercury silently sighed.

'Sorry Angel.' he whispered.

Catching a glimpse of Mercury's whisper, Angel quickly looked back, only to see the lucario suddenly bolting towards him at a blinding speed. His spiky fist glowed silver, as he ploughed it into the weavile's back.

* * *

Uncomfortably tense, Glim's ears were twitching violently as his paws and eyes were tightly closed. He then let out a girly squirm, as his ears, head and paws appear to sink down like gel. Laying his head on the thin pillow, Glim's pretty eyes opened a little, overcome by pleasure.

'You enjoying yourself, Glim?' chuckled Karli, on the neighbouring bed.

The little glaceon remained as flat as a stunfisk, as the sneasel nurse continued to massage little Glim's back. The nurse seemed to struggle to hold her urge to giggle, amused by Glim's very wary satisfaction, unable to keep still and continuously flinching. It was clearly his first time at a relaxation spa and after his traumatic experiences, it was going to be extremely awkward for the glaceon.

Glim had no energy or ability to reply to Karli using words and instead gave out a mumbling groan. Relaxing so deeply, the glaceon blushed a pale pink and nuzzled his pillow.

'Aww, he's so sweet, isn't he?' said Karli to the female meowstic nurse massaging her, who rather like her sneasel colleague was smiling. Looking in the opposite direction, Karli could see Beryl on the neighbouring bed, who seemed completely still and calm. 'Beryl, you okay sweetheart?'

'Yes, thank you.' Beryl whispered.

The braixen still had a sad expression, so Karli thought best to let him be and looked over to Glim, who had revealed his beautiful eyes.

'You want to talk about something Glim?' asked Karli. The glaceon stuttered, trying to think of a reply, which seemed very difficult in his position. 'Tell me about that boyfriend you had… "Shadow" was it? You had-'

'Oh… okay.'

'You said you had a nightmare this morning about him.'

'Yeah… well, I say he was my boyfriend, we were only together for like, less than a day.'

'Really? I've heard mad young love stories but… h-how did you two get together?'

'Remember when I had to get into Lopunny Cove?'

'Oh yeah.'

'It was there where he found my "scent", which I was told that houndoom find extremely erotic.'

Both nurses massaging Karli and Glim simultaneously nodded and agreed to what the glaceon said.

'Oh wow… did he know he was homosexual?'

'Um… probably not, since I was dressed as a maid at the time.'

Immediately, the sneasel, meowstic and Miley who was also neighbouring Glim, all burst out laughing.

'Oh my god,' cried Karli. 'That was the dress you bought from us wasn't it?'

'It was, yeah.'

'That poor houndoom,' laughed Miley.

'Oh "poor houndoom", that dress came back to haunt me. Fuck.'

'Really?' asked Karli. 'What happened?'

Remembering the terrifying Symphonia court proceeding, where Glim was forced to wear the dress, in front of so many, made the glaceon cringe and twitch.

'D-don't ask... it was horrible.'

'But what happened between you and Shadow, how'd you two get together?'

'Well, at first he wouldn't leave me alone.' replied Glim, the nurses and Karli then responded with unimpressed remarks, as if it was typical. 'But just outside the club, I got attacked and he saved me. He then walked me back to where I was staying…'

'Aw, that is the cute boy thing to do.'

'And I felt really bad for him, because even then I knew he loved me, and having saved me from a bunch of twats, I would've hated myself if I only thanked him. So… I kissed him.'

The kirlia in sight of the glaceon only smiled, as if watching a romantic film.

'If an affectionate houndoom saved me and walked me home, I'd probably would have done the same thing.' said the sneasel.

'Yeah… but I also felt bad because I went with it, I gave him a different name and pretended to be a girl. I don't know how he found out, but Shadow was then attacked by his "father" I think. That's when we got together… me and my friend saved him, but it didn't last long from there.'

'No?' replied Karli.

'Only hours later, we were kidnapped by Symphonia, who prisoned my friends. And I couldn't save them, because the island got raided, which is when I got taken away by Republic cronies.'

Karli nodded sadly and even Beryl gave the glaceon a saddened look. Even though he was offloading some of his worst experiences so far, Glim was not having to resist tears, which felt unusual for him. He had been crying a lot those past weeks. Instead he just sighed.

* * *

Angel crashed against rocks of ice, his momentum caused him to bounce up and over them, leaving him to fall onto the snow behind. Taking the pain like it was nothing, the tough weavile easily rolled back and stood.

From the other side, Mercury sprang into the air, flying passed Angel and attempting to block his path. Before the lucario even got close to landing, the weavile swung his arm out, hurling shards of ice at him. The careful lucario was quick enough to batter the chunks of ice with his paw spikes, but the impacts still knocked Mercury further back. Worse still, Mercury became distracted hitting the Ice Shard attack away, he could only land roughly on his back. The soft snow cushioned some of the crash, while Mercury bounced slightly, but before he could get back to his feet, Angel bolted into the lucario, hitting him upward. A little dazed, Mercury managed to land on his feet, stomping and grinding on the snow, leaving some distance between him and Angel.

The weavile suddenly ran at a blinding speed circling around Mercury, who was ready to use Bullet Punch again. The lucario was surprised to see that attack, which was Aerial Ace, but knew it was almost impossible to evade. Point was proven when Mercury was struck on his back, unable to watch the black and magenta blur close enough. He was thrown forward, causing him to roll out of his impact.

On his knee, the lucario could not immediately see Angel, but then noticed he was in the air diving down to him with his right claw seemingly grown to a massive length and was fiercely glowing black. Thinking fast, Mercury laid on his back until Angel fell close enough and then used his left leg to block Angel's attack, while his right leg was used to strike the falling weavile, creating what sounded like a Boomburst, kicking him back into the air. It was difficult to hear, but Angel was grunting in severe pain, while he spun, holding his torso. Eventually, the weavile crashed near the ice covered monument he left earlier, bouncing from the hard surface, which did not comfort his pain. Angel twitched, growling angrily, stopping very close to the monument. As he struggled to stand back up, Mercury leaped into the same area.

'Are you alright?' called Mercury, genuinely concerned.

Reluctant to answer, Angel stood with an arm around his stomach and had a slight limp to his left leg. He gave the lucario a bloodthirsty glare, as his body glowed a bright light blue, seemingly covering himself in more ice. In a second, he fisted the back of the monument, breaking it from its mount and then used both feet to launch the pillar of icy rock into Mercury. Luckily, the lucario had the instant nerves to react with Bullet Punch, coating his fists with steel and majorly disrupting the force of the enormously heavy rock that could have knocked Mercury out cold. Instead the giant slab broke into multiple pieces, two large halves and several more rocks.

The collision pushed Mercury back slightly, leaving him a little tense, expecting to see the same weavile before him. To his surprise, Mercury spotted Angel, hastily climbing the sheer cliff, using the tips of his sharp claws like spider legs. The lucario, eager to stop him, leaped directly into the cliff below the weavile, sinking his fist into the rock as hard as he could. Upon impact, Mercury's attack, caused the entire cliff to crack dynamically, as if he used Earthquake.

Far above, the weavile had stopped climbing so swiftly, struggling to hold on, from what Mercury could see. But then, a humongous part of the cliff appeared to be tipping out, with Angel on the very top of it.

'Whoops.' said Mercury.

The lucario tried to pull his fist and arm from the rock, which began to make multiple cracking noises, while Angel managed to desperately climb onto the slowly falling rock. As soon as Mercury pulled his arm from the cliff, the millions of cracks, quickly fell into an avalanche, as he quickly fled. The weavile tried to jump, only causing the rock he stood on to fall faster, while he fell on top of the avalanche. The giant stone, smashed into the ground, right next to Mercury, who dive-rolled to his left, getting very close to the very high shoreline.

Using his situation to his advantage, Angel saw a rock falling with him, only slightly above and tried to kick it into Mercury. Fortunately for the unaware lucario, the boulder just missed his head, whiffing past his face. At the same time, the weavile regretted the attempt, by belting the rock, he had severely damaged his foot, making him loudly yell in pain.

'Shit!' shouted Mercury, after witnessing the rock almost decapitating him.

The small avalanche carried the cliff and snow to fill the canyon, while Angel managed to burst out of it and swim away from Mercury. He barely saw the weavile, but Mercury knew what he was trying to do, and ran in the same direction as the landslide, thus avoiding it and also climbing to higher ground. When he ran up the slope enough to evade the stream of snow and rocks, Mercury leaped as high as he could, landing him onto the higher slope, which Angel was reaching for.

Knowing how determined the weavile was, Mercury waited, knowing he would at any moment climb onto the path he stood on. The lucario took a moment to breathe, knowing he had not fought much, but he knew he had a major typing advantage over Angel, who was in the categories of dark and ice, which were easily detectable, broken and resisted to a steel and fighting type like Mercury. Had he not have the advantage, Mercury realises that Angel could have been far more dangerous.

In less than a minute, a black glowing claw reaches over the edge. Mercury was tempted to run over and help him, but was concerned that Angel would take that as an arrest movement. The weavile pulled himself up, seemingly exhausted and furious. His eyes, locked with those of Mercury's, who kept his seriousness, but was secretly nervous. Mercury waited, giving Angel the chance to step onto the path. His coat was ripped all over, his head was covered in dirt and scratches and when he finally stood, it was easy to see that Angel had hurt his leg and foot.

'It's over Angel! You're hurt. Just come home and nobody has to get hurt any further.'

Without answering again, the enraged weavile ran limping to Mercury, attempting to use Night Slash. But due to his injuries, the lucario found it easy to block the attack and instead of retaliating, he held Angel's arms up, using his own, forming a wrestling grapple.

'Angel stop!' he shouted. 'You're not only one to have lost friends! What about Glim, or Karli! Or anybody from that ferry you were on! We've all lost people we care for, but that is no reason to act on blind rage!'

'I want to end it, now! Even if they're not staying behind, the kids will survive!'

'They won't, without you!' the two promptly paused for a moment, glaring into each other's furious eyes. 'Angel, listen! Your friends know how much your budew friend meant-'

'Belle!' screamed Angel.

'Yes Belle! But no one is going to help you if you turn into a monster! You wouldn't last a day, in Haine! The revolutionaries would most likely fight you too, due to lack of control and trust! They aren't maniacs, weavile! The Crimson are fighting for Crio and to avenge their lost ones, like you! But look at yourself! I am trying to spare you and you trying to kill me!' the last statement caused a sudden weakening in Angel's arms, loosening his grip slightly. 'The Crimson would either tell you to piss off or kill you. What good would avenging Belle be then! What would she think if she saw you like this!'

Angel slowed down, looking around, as if Belle was nearby and realised that he was the one trying to force Mercury back. Still in his raged condition, the weavile let go of Mercury's shoulders, prompting him to also let go. Angel slowly stepped back, finally calmed down, despite his expression. The lucario was still angered, but both surprised and relieved. In fact, he felt a little admirable, that Angel had that speck of sanity to keep his anger from taking over, but also for the sheer passion and determination he had to avenging his loved one. The two were quiet for a moment, but Mercury knew he had to say the best thing he could think of.

'You're a great ally to have, Angel. But it's not me you should be fighting with. It's your friends who need you, the same ones who knew Belle, who are probably the best to talk to. Was she friends with them?' asked Mercury, and Angel coyly nodded, evading eye contact. 'Then wouldn't she want you to stay with them? You wouldn't want to see them die too, right?'

The weavile paused, letting his anger drain, leaving him miserable. 'No.' he muttered quietly. 'Alright,' he continued, shamefully raising his head. 'I'll go back. Not sure if they're gonna be happy with me.'

'Of course they will. Karli might have been disappointed, but that's only because you've helped them so much now.'

'Ah… you're right.' Angel sulked, placing his head in his claws. 'Damn it, the fuck am I doing?'

'Angel, don't worry. It's why Yuki sent me to chase you. You were eager for a fight and it was best we got it out of your system. Now come on, look at the mess we made.'

* * *

Back at the spa, the friends were bathing in their chosen treatment. Beryl and Karli went for the same heated aromatherapy bathe. Whitney went for a dark bath, shielding his bathtub in a thick blanket to prevent the light from irritating his huge cotton hair. Yuki had arrived by that time and joined the friends in baths, placing her just next to Glim, since they were both having the icy bath.

Glim looked over to his friends further down the room, seeing that Beryl was talking again. He could not hear what they were talking about, but seeing Karli laugh meant they were getting through it. But he remembered Angel storming out and Mercury going after him. The glaceon looked over to the froslass, who appeared rejuvenated and in deep content with closed eyes.

'Yuki?'

The beautiful froslass slowly looked to her left. 'Yes sweetheart?'

'Um… you didn't tell Mercury to hurt Angel did you?'

'I am afraid that might happen, Glim. When desperate, angry men are fuelled by rage, the worst possible things can happen. You may talk them out of their suicide mission, but when words do not work, you sometimes have to let them vent.'

'Okay.' replied Glim, looking up at the aromatic decorated ceiling. 'My father liked venting out on me.' Yuki did not respond, instead she gave the glaceon a sad look, knowing what it was like. 'I wonder where they are, right now.'


	11. Killing your friends by living

Chapter 11  
'Killing your friends by living'

* * *

At the spa, Glim had fallen asleep again, during his back feet massage. On his back with his paws in the air, his snooze looked adorable to the nurses. Karli who was just next to Glim was also in deep comfort, having the same treatment, but she was not dozing off like the little glaceon to her left. He made her smile though, just how sweet and innocent Glim could be, yet so serious, bold and secretive.

Their 'day off' was largely spent by resting, as it had been their first day since the Iris Dragon Raid for any chance to stop and becalm. The spa treatment was more than what Karli would have asked for, Glim became far more satisfied than he imagined and Beryl was perhaps feeling lighter after his ordeal yesterday. The same could be said for Angel, when he let out his fury on Mercury, which could have had far worse consequences, but to the type advantage, the lucario was not facing too much threat from the enraged weavile.

Angel had returned to the actor's chalet, accompanied by Mercury. He expected the worst, thinking that Karli and maybe Glim would be mad at him, but even if they were, they were not present at the time. The weavile sat at the same table, where he had abandoned his friends earlier, clutching his right shoulder, hiding the aching pain he had from his fight.

'Are you alright?' asked Mercury, already knowing by aura reading that Angel was in pain. Essentially, he was asking a question he already knew the answer to, but wanted the weavile's view on it.

'I'm fine, thanks.' he replied, not even looking at the lucario.

'You want anything? Water, tea, beer?'

Angel actually smiled and gave a confused chuckle.

'Not what I was expecting, after what I just did to you.'

Mercury interrupted. 'That doesn't matter, Angel. You're hurt and stressed, and we like to move on when things get ugly.'

'I'm fine.'

The lucario paused, looking concerned for the weavile, just sitting aimlessly. He knew he needed something and was waiting, but what. Mercury left, saying 'okay then,' and telling Angel to take his time.

'Wait,' called Angel. 'Where's Karli and that lot?'

Mercury peeked round the kitchen door to see Angel. 'They've gone to the spa. They are taking a day to cool down. You should too, really.'

The lucario resumed helping out one of his colleagues who was audibly present in the kitchen, while the weavile looked at the window ahead of him. It had begun to snow.

* * *

Outside the spa, little Glim was having difficulty in walking, due to just how relaxed he was. He looked half-asleep as he and Karli waited for Yuki, Whitney and Miley to leave, having finished their pay. The glaceon just simply wanted to curl into a ball on the soft snow and sleep once more, but he was not so tired anymore.

The froslass and her crew left the spa, just as perky as Karli seemed to be, but Yuki looked around when she noticed only the kirlia and glaceon together.

'Where is Beryl?' she asked.

'Beryl's gone back to the chalet…' Karli replied sadly. 'He said the treatment was great and wanted to thank you, but wanted some time alone.'

Yuki nodded in acceptance, but sorrow could be seen in the beautiful eyes of hers, worried for the braixen. 'Must be still broken up about yesterday.'

'I tried to persuade him to come, but…'

'It is alright, dear Karli. You tried, but you have to see it from Beryl's point of view too.'

'I know, that's why I didn't argue with him. So where are we going next anyway?'

Whitney flew closer to the kirlia and sitting glaceon, subtly jumping them, as if the relaxation had no effect on the whimsicott. 'Our next performance is in a few hours!' he said joyously. 'We're going to prepare and you two can watch, when it starts.'

'Oh really? I forgot about the performances.'

'I think today,' said Yuki, who then looked at Miley. 'We are doing the usual Cresselia Ballet?'

'Yeah Tuesday we do the ballet. But we always have the daily news update and offerings too.'

'Okay,' replied Karli. 'So since it won't be in a few hours, are Glim and I okay for a walk?'

'Yes absolutely.' replied Yuki. 'We would not like to keep you waiting for so long, while we are getting ready. You two can do whatever you want.'

'Okay great,' said Karli, turning to leave, but also stroking the drowsy glaceon to come with her. 'We'll be there, promise!'

* * *

Back at the chalet, the door opened slowly, revealing the beautiful braixen boy, Beryl. He still seemed sad, a little disappointed with himself. It was not until he had closed the door behind him and turned round, did he notice that Angel had come back. Their eye contact, surprised the braixen.

'Angel?'

'Hey Beryl, I've… decided to stay.'

Rather quickly, the fox boy noticed that the weavile was hurt, just by seeing the tiny twitch in Angel's eye and the way he was sitting.

'What happened? What's wrong?' asked Beryl, drawing closer.

Angel grunted, trying to make his pain look like nothing more than just an ache. 'Mercury and I had a talk, and thought it'd be better if I left with you guys to Haine. Not just for your sake, but mine as well.'

'Oh...' said Beryl. 'Well, I was thinking of not going, Angel.'

'Oh really? Why's that?'

The braixen stood still, awkwardly staring at the weavile. He then slowly sat down on the chair in front of Angel, with his head down and braking eye contact. Angel was expecting an answer, but realised that the pretty braixen before him was in a fight with his own emotions, as his breathing appeared to pick up speed. His eyes and mouth seemingly changed shape too, a face the weavile had seen before.

'I can't…' stuttered Beryl, voice cracking uncontrollably, as he raised his paws to hold his ears. 'I can't stop hearing… the beeping.'

Beryl's lips began trembling, hearing the same beeping that signified Belle's life, just echoing in his head. Just as suddenly, tears slowly filled his eyes. Immediately, Angel knew what the braixen was referring too and nodded.

'Beryl…' he said, leaning forward and placing his claws on the braixen's shoulders. 'I've been having that problem too.'

The braixen looked up, meeting his pretty eyes with those sturdy, yet vulnerable eyes of the weavile before him. His paws went down from holding his ears to holding onto Angel's claws, trying to build as much emotional support as he could.

Beryl whispered 'did she have to die?'

'Beryl. Even if we didn't pull the cord, her mind was not coming back.' replied Angel. The braixen then looked down, clenching his teeth, trying desperately to not cry. 'Beryl… let it out.' he said, standing up and attempting to hug the braixen, who instead let go and swiftly stepped back.

'No!' he cried, cowering from the weavile and with tears just raining down his face. 'I wouldn't have given up… and you made me help you!' shouted Beryl, before the urge to bawl was getting the better of him. The braixen poorly hid his wet face with his paws, while Angel approached, grabbing hold of him by his arms.

'That's because I didn't want to do it either, Beryl.' replied Angel, whose voice also began to crack. 'Come here.'

When the weavile simply slid his arms around the fox pokémon, Beryl found himself powerless to resist and finally gave in, holding Angel back and cried once more. Letting out the heavy weight within, the fox boy screamed out his pain, causing the tears to soak the shoulder and neck fins he was crying on. Angel held the braixen tightly, as if holding onto the caring mother of a dead sibling. To think that he was the foster father for the little budew, even for just over a long day and a half, he felt that Belle was his own and rubbed his face into Beryl's warm fur, in case he too began to leak tears.

Ten minutes later, the two were sat down again, when Mercury emerged from the kitchen. It seemed that he knew there had been an emotional scene as he approached carefully, seeing the braixen wiping his tears across his arm and Angel leaning close to him and stroking his leg.

'I'm so sorry to interrupt.' said Mercury, calmly. 'But… you two don't need anything right now, do you?'

Neither Beryl nor Angel looked at the Lucario, but they both shook their heads.

'No thanks,' whispered Angel. 'This is between us.'

'Okay.' he replied, winking and left.

Only seconds later, the door was opened by Karli, who immediately spotted Angel as she was entering. Glim, who was close behind her was saying something, but the kirlia paused in surprise to see the weavile, slightly battered, who only gestured to keep quiet. Karli noticed Beryl only a centimetres away from Angel and entered cautiously, while gesturing 'sh' to Glim also. The glaceon followed in silence, seeming more curious than surprised to see that Angel had returned, but his expression turned to worry when he could see the breathing rate of the braixen. Beryl did not look to the door when the two had entered and kept to his calm, looking downward. Glim passed Karli, getting a look at Beryl, whose eyes were closed, while his cheeks shone its moisture. As tempted as the glaceon was to say something, he took one look at Angel, who shook his head, so Glim took a few steps back and looked back at Karli. The kirlia had a more complicated expression, seemingly worried for Beryl, yet fighting confusion to why Angel came back. Thankfully the silence was broken subtly by a lucario who left the kitchen unseen.

'Are you two okay?' asked Mercury.

The sudden question made Karli jump, but also grab Glim's attention, as they were unaware of Mercury's presence.

'Oh, uh…' quickly stammered Karli. 'No, sorry, we just came back because I really need a wee.'

'Okay.' nodded the lucario, while the kirlia quickly left for the corridor on the opposite side of the large room.

Mercury paused for a moment, staring at Glim, who resumed staring at the weavile and braixen, deep in contemplation, forgetting that Mercury's question was applicable for him too. The tall jackal look-alike pokémon resumed his chores, while the glaceon remained gazing. But when the lucario left, Glim felt a bit awkward, just being there. Rather quickly however, the little glaceon thought of an excuse to break his silence.

Glim looked at the kitchen door. 'W-wait, are you supposed to be rehearsing for today's performance?' he called, asking Mercury.

'It's the Cresselia Ballet today.' the busy lucario called back. 'There's no piano role, nor can I dance that well.'

'O-okay.' Glim nodded, not that Mercury could see that. Having broken his own silence, he felt more confident to speak to the other two. 'A-am I okay to ask?'

Angel glanced at the little glaceon, with a stern look. 'What?'

'Well…' paused Glim, suddenly regretting his decision to speak. 'Well I just wanted to know if Beryl's okay.'

Fearing that Glim's last statement would flare up an argument, Angel clenched his teeth and moved closer to the braixen, who only lightly held the weavile back and shook his head.

'Don't worry Glim.' Beryl reassured, taking a deep breath. 'What happened last night… was between me and Angel.'

The glaceon quietly approached, as Angel sat back on his chair, watching Glim. He then stopped just in front of the pretty braixen, with a sorrowful expression. Due to Beryl sitting on a chair, he was much higher than the glaceon, who just looked like an innocent little girl to him. The height also gave Glim the opportunity to see right up Beryl's fur that was shaped like a dress. Neither of them cared though, the glaceon just sat and opened out his front legs, as if asking for a hug.

'Can I at least return a favour?' asked Glim, getting the braixen to fully open his eyes, which looked sore from crying. He seemed lost, confused, too upset to understand simple commands or argue. 'You were there for me when I lost it in prison. Would it make you feel better if we held each other again?'

The braixen huffed, regaining his smile, as if Glim's 'favour' was a bit late and unnecessary. However, Beryl again found himself powerless to resist, as he leaned forward, leaving his chair and wrapped his warm furry arms around the little glaceon. Glim had to move back a little for Beryl to embrace him, by which time, they were both sitting on the floor as they caressed each other for a second time.

* * *

Neither Angel nor Beryl went to see the performance that day. They did think about it, but just felt wrong to be enjoying their selves after their experience with Belle. When Karli was finished, she, like Glim, was curious as to why Angel came back, who was a little relieved that they did not want to start an argument. Both Glim and Karli were too calm for that, especially after the spa treatment they had earlier, even though the kirlia thought Angel as irresponsible, untrustworthy and suddenly hypocritical. But she let her annoyance slide, because not only was their formidable weavile friend back, he managed to get Beryl to unwind and comfort him, who had been causing concern for his friends with his silent suffering. Those two left the chalet for a walk when they needed it, but feeling as if no one else could relate to their emotional gashes, they stayed together for the remainder of the day.

Meanwhile, Glim, Karli and even Mercury joined up to watch the performance that took place in less than an hour after their reunion with Angel. The 'Cresselia Ballet' was a beautiful performance, being a lengthy, relaxing dance done by adorable young dancers that had relations or abilities that presented the moon.

The lead dancer was an umbreon, despite the beautiful long dress, makeup and title, it was a male, whose appearance was deceivingly feminine. The little moonlight pokémon was apparently a close friend of Yuki, for wishing to have been born female, so Mercury says. Alongside the umbreon were two clefairy, who appeared minutes after her first routine, followed by two floette who took to the air, floating in circles around the artificial moon hung above the stage. Petals flew, drifting everywhere, but in such a controlled sentimental style, matching the upsetting feel of the dance.

As with yesterday, Miley, the other scyther and the two kricketune were playing as violinists. In a touch of drama, a white flower florges appeared, seemingly drawing the moonlight towards herself and shooting the beautiful umbreon back. The crowd gasped as if something went terribly wrong, while she cleanly twirled in her momentum before landed on her side, feigning death without making a sound, which was substituted by the intensity of the violinists verse. After the flawlessly performed strike, the lights around the stage darkened, while the artificial moonlight shun upon the still umbreon, appearing so lonely and forgotten. Seconds later, the hidden harpists began their gentle playing, the floette resumed circling the moon, pulsing in a faint pink light, as they created petals to drift, as if the moon was shedding tears. Suddenly, the fake moon glowed brightly, as a dark silhouette descended upon it and when the lights came back on, a mysterious glowing pink model sat on it.

Many in the crowd had difficulty seeing the swanna that was performing as the legendary pokémon, since they were drawn in awe to the sheer beauty of what was believed to be a cresselia. As if the dramatic dance was finishing, the cresselia actress activated her light-riddled costume to glow, which was then followed by another shocking act where the cresselia fell back, off the moon and landing silently.

The finale showed a lonely cubone, sweeping across the stage, looking for perhaps a friend, until she spots the fallen umbreon. Lights focused on the umbreon once again, as the little cubone softly slid over and caressed her, appearing deeply distraught and crying out to the moon, which had stopped glowing. The umbreon began to twitch, causing the cubone dancer to leap back in fright, as the dark pokémon stood on her four legs once more and faced the crowd in surprise. It was as if, she had come back from being dead. While the umbreon dancer stood motionless, all the other dancers appeared one by one, forming a row behind her. They all then took a bow, as all the lights came back on again and the crowds immediately erupted in applause. Whether or not they understood or even believed the story that was portrayed, the performance was undoubtedly captivating to so many of Camellias.

* * *

When the sun, hidden by clouds had descended, Beryl had gone to bed early, after losing quite a lot of sleep in the past few days. Somehow, despite his own doubts, the beautiful fox boy was capable of falling asleep without the demons getting to him, forcing him to cry every time. He did not want to shed anymore tears than he already had, trying to rebuild the fire within himself, that sense of care the braixen had, an affectionate trait for his friends that was beginning to flicker. Maybe, with a long rest, Beryl can move on from his torment from losing his friends in Hydrangea, to the Royal Talon prison and the loss of Belle. Something he knew he would have to do if he was to join his friends' journey to Haine, which he still had not decided.

Angel let Beryl go to bed alone, even though they are sharing the same room. It would have been 'erotically creepy' to just watch him, a joke he thought of, making the weavile realise that his sense of humour was not completely drained. Not to mention it was only eight pm, so he thought he would go for his fourth walk for that day, to pass the time or perhaps to find Glim and Karli. Perhaps they wanted to talk to him.

At that time, the glaceon and kirlia were backstage, with Yuki and Mercury, offering to help tidy up the staged destruction created by the Cresselia Ballet. Their help was not so necessary, since pokémon actors would make great use of the technique Psychic, a large majority of those who could learn it were strongly advised to. Saving so much time with effects, choreography and general preparation. Instead, little Glim went looking for the beautiful umbreon he had watched, a little curious of the rumours about "her", but after five minutes, the glaceon had already searched the whole structure. The square was not originally made for performances to the scale it was at present, which made Glim forget how small the backstage was. Leaving the backstage again, with Karli in a conversation with Miley, the little glaceon saw Yuki approaching, who had let her gurdurr colleague start his sweeping of the stage.

'Glim, sweetheart.' said Yuki, tilting her head, recognising the look of curiosity in the glaceon's eyes. 'Have you lost something?'

'No, no…' he replied, shaking his head. 'I was just… looking for that umbreon, I- I was hearing rumours.'

The icy ghost lady smiled. 'You must be referring to Marylyn. She is often a point of interest in our division, and for that… she often leaves early because she does not like to get pestered.'

'Pestered? I wasn't-'

Yuki raised her hand, gesturing Glim to quiet. 'And I am sure you mean no harm. But Marylyn, like me, would rather have nobody knowing, as the past can destroy our future.'

Glim may not have understood everything the froslass just said, but he knew that last statement all too well and nodded. 'I was only going to ask-'

'If she was a boy?' asked Yuki, giving the glaceon a calm but somehow piercing glare. 'Don't.'

Again, the little glaceon nodded, but remembered that the froslass before him had been through a similar experience. 'Wait, is that why you two know each other?' he asked, while Yuki just stared back. 'Well, it's just… I was there- you saw me, when your parents were interrogating you. Your mother said about how you…' rather than finishing his sentence with words, the glaceon made paw gestures of moving from one side to another, referring to the alleged sex change the froslass had been through.

Yuki looked down, secretly appreciating Glim's subtlety, but then sighed. 'I am afraid so… Marylyn was severely distressed and suicidal when I first met her. But having survived such an experience, I am her only hope of the same thing.'

Glim nodded sadly. 'How did you get that operation anyway? I heard that Crio is one of the most medically advanced regions in the world, but only going as far as organism fixtures and transplants. I mean… even I know that is kind of a leap, in fact, your mother was demanding to know.'

'Well remember, this was the first region that the humans were appearing in.'

'Oh yeah! I forgot about that.'

'Wherever they appeared from, they brought their expertise with them. But, the surgery I had, was done in secrecy.'

'Oh was it?' asked Glim, looking a little disheartened.

'Sorry Glim, but that is really all I can tell you.'

'And you're trying to get this for Marylyn, right?' he asked happily and Yuki nodded calmly, smiling. 'That's good.'

'May I ask Glim, are you just curious, or is there something you want to tell me?'

'W- well I… just wanted to speak to… the umbr- Marlin.'

'Marylyn.'

'Marylyn, sorry. Those rumours interested me.'

Yuki gave the glaceon a suspicious look, who shot back a more surprised look, as to why the froslass was tilting her head in that way.

'Was it, just the rumours?'

'Huh?'

'Well… perhaps you felt intrigued by her because she was an umbreon. I hear that "eeveelutions" are often naturally drawn to each other and can befriend so quickly.'

'Oh… yeah. But that wasn't what I had in mind.'

'If you say so.'

Suddenly Karli emerged from the backstage, calling for Glim, when she noticed Yuki with him between the stage and backstage.

'Hey Yuki.' said Karli, winking happily before looking back to the little glaceon. 'Do you know when we're leaving tomorrow?'

Glim paused, staring as if he had forgotten to do something. 'Um… I thought Yuki was…'

'Yes.' interjected Yuki, redirecting the kirlia's confused expression. 'I spoke to Ariel this morning, and she said their next smuggling was at seven tomorrow morning.'

'Who's Ariel?' asked Karli.

'She is a lapras, a recently retired captain. Since the revolution started, she has been helping people crossing the channel undetected. She knows Mist and is good at sailing quick and quietly, which is how members of Camellias have been joining the fight for Haine, but she also helps with evacuations too.'

'Yeah, to escape the revolution, I'm not surprised.'

Yuki nodded. 'Exactly. So make sure you sleep a little earlier tonight, as she will not be waiting around.'

'Okay, but where will she be for us?'

The froslass began moving toward the backstage. 'I will show you when we get back.'

'Okay.' said Karli, standing with Glim as they watched Yuki leave. 'What were you two talking about?'

'Sorry?' asked Glim.

'I heard you two talking, what was it about?'

'O-oh, it was about me being an eevee, you know…'

The kirlia gave Glim a concerned, but suspicious look, before shrugging and shaking her head. 'Alright.'

* * *

Despite Angel walking around for over an hour, Karli and Glim never bumped into him, in fact, they were in bed over half an hour before the weavile returned to the chalet. That however did not mean they were asleep yet. Going to bed early always annoyed Karli, as she just laid in her hay bed, looking toward the window at the opposite end of the room. Next to her was Glim's bed, who was turned to face the wall, but she knew he was still awake.

'Glim,' she whispered, keen to not wake Beryl who was fast asleep on the other side. 'Glim!'

The little glaceon rolled over, unintentionally reflecting the light from the window off his beautiful fur coat. 'Yes?' he whispered back.

'Are you asleep yet?'

Glim just paused, staring lazily at Karli. 'Yes, I am asleep. That's why I'm talking to you right now.'

The kirlia quietly giggled. 'So what are you dreaming about?'

Playing along, Glim rolled onto his back and tried to think of some random story. 'Well, either first having a little tea party, with a cute couple of fairy pokémon. Or fucking nothing, because I'm trying to sleep.'

Karli chuckled. 'Anything keeping you up… other than me?'

'Not really, I'm just not so tired after my nap at the spa.'

'Oh yes.' blurted Karli, resisting to chuckle. 'God, you were either out cold, or just at a loss of words in there.'

Right as Karli finished her sentence, the bedroom door opened and Angel loudly stumbled in. He immediately noticed the kirlia, nearest to the door still awake as she glanced at him, but she quickly placed a finger over her mouth. In case Angel did not know why, Karli pointed at the bed opposite her, where Beryl was still fast asleep, or so she thought he was.

'Beryl's sleeping.' Karli whispered.

'O-okay.' Angel whispered back, looking at the sleeping braixen.

The weavile traded a glance of curiosity with Karli, keen to say something, but after being told to keep quiet, Angel only moved over to his bed next to Beryl's. With Glim trying to get back to sleep, Karli felt too awkward to say anything, even knowing that Angel wanted to talk. She along with the neighbouring glaceon and weavile at present just stayed quiet until they drifted off to sleep.

* * *

An explosion threw Glim out of his bed, immediately shocked, dazed and confused. Not noticing the room he was in had completely changed and he seemed stuck on his back. The glaceon realised, due to his powerlessness of movement, he had become an eevee again. Taking a moment to observe his surroundings, he felt more dread of the room he was in, as opposed to the explosion.

'Glim!' screamed a sylveon only leaning into the room. 'Get 'ere now!'

Struggling frantically, the helpless eevee did his best to roll out of his blanket. Glim found he was not in a bed, but just a load of old cushions, which made his escape a little more difficult. The repetitive sounds of explosions, booming just outside of the room, with the disturbing sound of the siren wailing in the background did not help the eevee either. Being so small, his struggles made him look like he was swimming helplessly in choppy tides. Suddenly, Glim felt multiple ribbons forcefully grabbing him tightly.

'God, I could just kill you!' groaned Fleece, yanking the eevee out from the cushions.

Despite the floor only being centimetres below, Glim felt the rising pressure in his torso, as if he was falling. He squeaked as he ploughed onto the floor, beginning to wake from his dream. He twitched, observing the room around him, having forgotten where he was. The glaceon raised his head, only realising he had just been dreaming, looking toward the bed opposite him. Angel appeared to be shuffling as he leaned over the edge of his hay bed, looking toward Glim, while the darkness had hidden all of Angel's head, except for the jewel on his crown.

'Glim?' he whispered. 'You alright?'

Still tired, Glim only nodded and curled into a ball where he was, ignoring that he was on the hard wooden floor. From what the little glaceon could hear, the weavile who just spoke was doing the same, rustling until he became comfortable. But one minute later, Glim could only feel agitation, as he was no longer tired and was just a little drowsy. He gave himself another minute in trying to sleep, but opened his big pretty eyes, knowing it was hopeless. Keen to move and know what time it was, Glim stood and tip-toed like a ballerina to prevent making any more noise to wake up any of his friends.

The glaceon left the bedroom, seeing the dream flash in his head, remembering that it was no dream, but a bad memory repeating itself. Remembering that angry, chubby-faced sylveon, bossing him around, while he felt so helpless would freeze burn his tail so tightly and make him clench his teeth. Quickly quelling his anger was the soft, sweet voice of a froslass who turned round to face the little glaceon.

'Morning Glim.' she said, so caringly. 'What are you doing up so early? Your crew were not due to wake up until before six.'

Glim paused, taking time to absorb what Yuki said to him. 'What time is it?' he replied, sitting down and rubbing the sleep off his eyes.

'It is quarter-past four, sweetheart. You look as though you kicked the musharna away.'

The glaceon smiled. 'I had another bad dream. And suddenly I'm not really tired now.'

Yuki gave a sympathetic look, when Glim mentioned having a nightmare again, but she then smiled with the little glaceon. 'Not to worry Glim,' she said, clicking her unusual fingers, protruding from her sleeve, which caused a teapot in the centre of the table to lift and pour tea on its own. 'Come, if you have plenty of time, you may as well have some tea with us.'

Glim approached, oblivious that Yuki was using psychic powers to move the tea set. However, with the table being well above his eye level, he was not going to take much notice. When the glaceon climbed onto the small wooden stool opposite the froslass, only then did he notice that they were not alone. As if he should have been careful for what he wished for, Glim's enormous pretty eyes latched onto the blood ruby eyes of an umbreon at the end of the table. Guessing it was Marylyn, Glim was in shock, to see just how little, timid and beautiful she was. The glaceon paused, only for a moment, quickly recognising that Marylyn was a little shy, just by seeing the sorrowful angle on her lustrous eyes. He sat and faced the froslass opposite him, trying to appear as casual as possible. Yuki however smiled, seeing the glaceon freeze like he forgot all his lines in a script and was resisting to blush.

'Glim… I am sure you know.' said Yuki, looking over at the frail umbreon. 'This is Marylyn.'

Again, trying to seem casual, Glim gave a little wave to her with his paw. 'Hi.' he said, weakly.

The umbreon only responded with a short bow, fixing her eyes back to Yuki. She looked so much different without all the face paint she had in show, but even without the bloody tears painted on, Glim could tell that her performance represented herself emotionally. Marylyn was also wearing a dress, different to the one she wore yesterday and it was long enough to fall past her hind joints, hiding her darkest secret.

'It is okay sweetheart,' reassured Yuki. 'Glim is one of those who saved me the other day.'

'To be honest,' softly interjected Glim. 'Angel's the one to thank. Karli and I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for him. A-and that magnezone of course.'

'I still thank you, Glim. All of you.'

The glaceon had nothing to say and just smiled, a little flattered, considering that Karli was all he had in mind when he ran to find Angel. He proceeded to hold the cup of tea made for him as he sat on the stool, which was freezing, but just right for an ice type pokémon. He took one gulp of what tasted like a very becalming sweet water that would soothe a burning tongue, smelling like morning dew in a winter wonderland. Realising what he was drinking, Glim's ears perked up.

'Wait,' he said. 'Have you two been up all night?'

Yuki giggled. 'It is common for dark types like Marylyn, to sleep during the day and wake up in the late afternoon. For that reason, I sort of join that time scale too.'

'How come?'

The froslass paused, looking over to the umbreon, who seemed to be sadly looking into her own tea. 'Because, she does not like to be alone.'

The glaceon looked to Marylyn, in the corner of his eye, remembering how he left Jasmine Village, because he did not want to be alone. Also when he heard of his friends dying, his despair got to him, persuading Beryl to embrace him. Knowing the feeling, he nodded sadly.

'When you leave,' spoke Yuki. 'Whoever you are leaving with, make sure you get to the Rebel Extraction Point by seven. Because Ariel will not be waiting when she sails by.'

'Then… how do we board her ferry?'

'She herself pulls it, she is that strong, as it is not exactly a cruise liner, but she moves rather slowly and close to the ice. That is how we get so many supplies here and back for Camellias.'

'O-okay.'

After taking another sip, Glim caught a glimpse of Marylyn giving him eye contact. It seemed they both had a message in their eyes, even though they could not read each other. The glaceon's captivated eyes showed 'to think that was a boy' in the dress nearby, while Marylyn's mournful eyes seemed to say 'don't go, you will die.'

An hour later, Angel and Karli tightened their small backpacks for the long journey to Haine. Neither of them seemed tired, despite only waking up minutes ago. The weavile was still a bit quiet about his actions yesterday, but he was getting the idea that Karli had forgiven him. Glim was already set, except he was not carrying anything, having a bag on his back or sides would have strained his freedom of movement. After hearing so much about Haine becoming a warzone, it was crucial the team travelled lightly and resourcefully, they were in need to defend their selves. Just between the glaceon and shiny kirlia, the revolution between the Republic and Crimson were not their only threat, there was also Martyr.

The bedroom door opened. 'Wait.' said Beryl, breaking the tense silence. 'I'm coming with you.'

The pokémon at present, Glim, Karli, Angel, Mercury and Yuki stood silent, all sharing the expression of concern for the braixen.

'You sure, Beryl?' replied Angel. 'Yesterday you said you didn't wanna go.'

Beryl shook his head, entering the main living room. 'I've- I've changed my mind. I don't want to keep hearing about all these raids and do nothing about it.'

'Beryl,' said Karli, rather sadly. 'You know we'll probably die in there, right?'

The braixen nodded and mumbled 'I know.'

Rather than arguing further, the weavile smiled and threw Beryl a small children's bag, which he caught one pawed.

'Then gear up, boy.' Angel said, winking.

Seeing Beryl catch the bag and begin choosing from the spread of supplies laid out on the table, made Karli smile, though she could not help feeling responsible for the braixen, like they were taking him to his death. Accepting it, the kirlia looked over to the froslass who remained afloat next to her faithful lucario. They smiled as she approached.

'Yuki,' said Karli. 'Thank you for everything.'

The pretty ice pokémon giggled. 'I am the one who should be thanking you Karli, but you are most welcome. And best of luck to you all.'

Yuki opened out her ghostly white arms and Karli was quick to hug her. Unfamiliar to ghost types, the kirlia was unaware of how tightly she could hold the froslass.

'Oh, do not hold me too-'

Suddenly Karli fell through Yuki, almost face planting the floor, had Mercury not caught her. Karli and Yuki laughed, while everybody else just glanced at the scene having missed it. Although Glim saw it too, but his mood just was not as perky as Karli's, given that he hates to say goodbyes, so instead, he would just wait with a reassuring eye-smile, like he would come back someday anyway.

* * *

On the outskirts of Camellias, Glim, Angel, Karli and Beryl were joined by Mercury who was asked to take them to the extraction point. Going along with them, to join the cause were two best friends, Austin the graveler and Terri the cranidos. Karli had already heard of their enlisting when she spoke to Miley backstage yesterday and despite the two being quite young, they seemed keen to fight, although Austin was more eager to getting out of the cold land they were stuck in.

'You two sure you're up for this?' asked Angel.

'Yeah yeah,' replied Austin. 'Not waiting, freezing my ass off here anymore. Not with what's going on in Haine.'

Terri just next to the big rocky pokémon did not say anything and just nodded, as they started their journey.

Hearing the voice of the graveler gave the grown weavile cause for concern. He leaned over to the lucario walking with them and gave him a slight nudge with his elbow.

'Yo,' he whispered. 'How old are they?'

'Older than Glim.' replied Mercury.

As if that was any help, the weavile puzzled, looking out into thin air with a question in mind and he was not alone. Karli slowly looked at the little glaceon walking alongside her. It seemed he had heard the lucario's statement as well and could read the question in the kirlia's eyes.

Karli asked 'how old-'

'I don't know,' answered Glim. 'I just tell people I'm twenty.'

Mercury shook his head. 'Physically… no.'

'How'd you know how old Glim is, if he doesn't know?' asked Angel.

'I could try explaining… but most people don't believe the whole aura powers that lucario have.'

Angel only nodded, understanding the general ignorance that faced Mercury for his heritage, even though he was not sure of a lucario's aura powers either.

Passing the climb, the snow began to pick up. Angel and Mercury kept quiet about it, but that was the area they had wrecked, turning it into an awkward slope of mushy snow, to suddenly being a sloping bed of huge sharp rocks. Climbing up the hill, the snow was getting stronger, strong enough for Glim's snow cloak ability to activate, making him fade invisible as he was walking next to Karli.

'Whoa, wait!' cried the surprised kirlia. 'Glim just vanished!'

Suddenly the men at the front glanced back, while Beryl, Austin and Terri sort of panicked, calling out for the glaceon.

With his aura powers, Mercury could see Glim and tried to reassure the others, pointing at the empty space just ahead of Karli. 'No, no he's-'

'I'm right here, Karli.' said Glim, twinkling in and out of visibility. 'It's just my snow cloak.'

Angel laughed and continued onward and other three stopped their calling out. Austin face palmed in embarrassment.

'Oh wow!' replied Karli. 'I didn't know you could do that!'

The lucario tried to explain. 'Yes, this is a glaceon's-'

'You look so pretty like that.' said Beryl happily, while Terri nodded.

Up ahead, where the hill was finally levelling out a bit, Angel looked back to see his allies had fallen behind a bit, so he stood and waited. It seemed the formation had changed, Mercury was ahead of them, but Glim and Beryl were talking to each other, about two metres behind Austin, Terri and Karli.

'Oi!' yelled Angel. 'Get moving Slowpokes!'

The lucario responded with a frightful charge toward the weavile. 'Shit- Angel no! You can cause an avalanche!'

Beryl and Glim looked ahead to see the lucario running off, only then did the braixen notice they were trailing next a sheer drop.

'Whoa… uh.' stuttered Beryl. 'We're pretty high up.'

Being on the other side of the fox boy, the glaceon could not see the vast height they were climbing at. The path was much flatter as they continued the tourist path around south Dwy. Glim moved ahead slightly, realising that Beryl had stopped, looking down the height.

'Beryl, they're leaving us behind.' said Glim.

'Oh!' squeaked the braixen, immediately running past Glim. 'Come on, let's go.'

When the braixen past Glim, no more than a metre, an enormous flash beamed between him and the glaceon. Creating an enormous, perfectly straight crack line in the snow. Both Glim and Beryl froze in shock, their pupils went tiny as they stayed motionless.

'What was that?' murmured Beryl, unaware of the deep crack in the snow just behind him.

The glaceon stared at the crack, which crossed the tourist path, heading diagonally left and continuing further up Mount Dwy. The ground felt no different where he was, so Glim looked at his friends to see if anything else had changed. It seemed that the other five ahead had taken a similar pose, standing straight and still.

'Beryl!' said Glim, worriedly. 'Take a few steps back, now!'

As soon as Beryl attempted to raise his left leg, the whole structure simply broke off, suddenly sliding downward into an avalanche, taking Angel, Mercury, Karli, Terri and Austin down with it. The braixen who was just over metre away could not even turn round in time to grab onto the edge from where the ice began to break. Glim leaped forward, belly-flopping onto the edge in attempt to grab hold of Beryl, but he was already too late. His friend simply vanished into the sea of snow that fell at such velocity.

'No!' Glim screamed, looking for the rest of his friends, all who have fallen helplessly into the avalanche.

The sea of snow quickly began to spread outward on the unusual surfaces of Mount Dwy, spread mostly north from where Glim was dangling, slowing down near the shoreline. Desperate to get down there, without taking a deathly fall, the glaceon saw that he would have to climb the steep path to his left, going up Dwy a little more to get around the broken cliff. From there, the hill slants all the way down to the flat shoreline, which was also where the extraction point was.

Hastily, the glaceon ran up the steep hill, metres away from the brutally straight edge that was left. Looking at it as he ran, Glim could see it was straight until it hit the cliff further up, one he will have to climb over also. From there, the avalanche appears to have left jagged, uneven cracks all the way to the other side. It looked like someone had virtually cut one side and let the rest just fall off.

Being a glaceon, the rising cold wind was no bother to him, nor was the steep climb, and though his friends were his top priority, one look upward gave Glim a possible reason to be scared. A green light, just one flew left, which was silhouetted in the mist. He barely saw it, but the glaceon had chills, hoping that the light was not what he thought it was.

Finally getting up the steep cliff, taking only five minutes in his haste, glim began to get tired. However, he was not going to stop, he could now safely reach the shoreline with the path in front of him.

'Glim!' called a low voice on top of the cliff.

The glaceon gasped, seeing an armoured bouffalant through the mist, just standing tensely to Glim's left. Not knowing who and why she was there was a surprise in itself, knowing the glaceon's name was another, but Glim was not quite prepared for what came next.

The bouffalant raised her hoof, pointing past Glim. 'Martyr's coming!' she shouted.

Glim rolled forward, getting himself onto the flatness of the cliff and positioning himself to face backward. At first he saw nothing but a blizzard, and then a flash to his right. He assumed the bouffalant was going to help him, since she clearly knew Martyr.

From the blizzard, a dark figure leaped up into the air and suddenly a bright pink light appeared to zoom toward Glim. Seeing the attack on time, the glaceon side rolled, just dodging the huge, vertical Psycho Cut. Anticipating it to be another massive remnant of sorts, Glim focused and roared his Signal Beam. The stream of rainbows were eventually blocked harmlessly, looking like water splashing powerlessly as it would just evaporate afterward. Seeing no Unown around or hearing any strange roars in pain as he would before, Glim called off his attack and saw not a multi-formed monster, but a human. The same one who came close to killing him in Iris. Glim's pupils shrunk, seeing those enraged, soulless black eyes again, even at their distance. It also appeared that Martyr was holding something quite large in its right hand, but all the little glaceon could see was a white light. However, Glim was more unnerved about Martyr simply blocking his strongest attack against it, using just its other hand.

'You have survived long enough, glaceon.' hissed Martyr in its echoing voice.

The human leaped up again and Glim turned tail and bolted, attempting to run down the hill as he had planned originally. When he turned, he noticed the bouffalant had disappeared, but was at no condition to stop and kept going. As Glim ran for his life, something very strange was happening, as if everything was flickering black and white, giving the glaceon a massive rush of déjà vu, which became all the more chilling when he suddenly noticed another glaceon running in the opposite direction. Glim felt he saw the whole thing in slow motion, looking at the glaceon, which seemed furious, he had a massive cut going up his face, which was clearly the cause of all the blood, his missing right ear and side of hair. The mysterious glaceon seemed to flicker out of Glim's sight as he fearfully ignored it and ran onward. Too scared and confused for what was going on in his situation.

Glim's running in a zig-zag line had saved him, just dodging another tremendous Psycho Cut that hammered the ice from above. The impact was so severe, it shook Glim off his feet, causing him to slide away from the attack, but when he spun round and saw the damage the attack did to the mountain, he knew what was coming next.

The very cliff the little glaceon laid on broke without warning, rapidly sliding downward and breaking apart. All Glim could see was a violently vibrating series of rocks being swept down a white river of snow, as Martyr landed hard on a rock, sliding opposite him, breaking it more. The human raised its arm with the shining object, which made a strange loud droning noise when it was waved up. Immediately, the little ice pokémon stood, turned, ran and jumped off the rock that was breaking beneath his feet. During his desperate jump, keen to land on one of the many rocks that was sliding beneath him, the glaceon was hit in the back with a tremendous force, sending him hurling forward, twice faster than the speed he leaped. It seemed his shock numbed the pain, as he did not feel anything and was just left to crash onto a much bigger land of ice on the very edge of the avalanche, which seemed to only be rotating left. As soon as Glim stopped, he got back up, suddenly feeling the intense pain going from his left bottom cheek, up his lower back and the left of his crown. He could not tell how deep the cut was, but seeing the snow below him drenched in blood, gave him the urge to scream.

Just in front of the glaceon, while he was drifting backward on the rock, a boulder had subsequently broken off from the same cliff and was stampeding toward him. Acting fast, Glim dodge rolled to his right, giving him plenty of space for the boulder to miss. However, physics got the last laugh, when the giant boulder ploughed through the floor of ice, it broke in half and closed in, catapulting the glaceon into the air, for being on the edge of it.

Hoping his snow cloak ability would hide him from Martyr, Glim tried not to scream, but it seemed in vain. The humanoid creature took a form of shadows, leaping into the air, far above the helpless glaceon, who could see that it was raising its weapon and was predictably going to strike down on Glim. Seeing Martyr far above, but knowing it was about to kill him, sent a myriad of emotions and flashbacks all around Glim's body. All he could do was endure, screaming in fear as Martyr suddenly shooting down toward the glaceon. Bracing himself, Glim was unaware of his crown glowing so brightly, it instantly summoned a spherical shield around him. The human made contact with its attack, erupting the sound of a Boomburst and catapulting the shielded glaceon through the icy ground, while Martyr seemingly bounced out of sheer recoil and grunted in pain. The humanoid creature in the farmer jumpsuit lost hold of its weapon, which seemingly faded into light, as it fell, landing still onto the snow, causing the avalanche around it to stop, including any boulders that were on collision course with it.

Martyr stood still, looking for the glaceon that just saved himself using Barrier, but there was no sign of him yet. It figured that Glim must have been forced through the snow and may be underground. The human growled in frustration, as five Unown with furious green eyes approached Martyr.

'Find him.' it said. 'And if he is with friends, kill them! If he or that kirlia are alone, back away.'

The fidgety Unown replied with multiple beep noises and flew in adjacent directions. Martyr meanwhile, faded away.

* * *

Far below, Glim had not deactivated his Barrier technique, nor had he unveiled his face and just let his safe impact tumble him further down a pitch black drop. Suddenly his fall had stopped, forcing the little glaceon out of his Barrier, leaving him to pant in dread and pain. He did not know where he was, other than some cave and it was too dark to see. In fact, Glim was too scared to move, holding himself tightly, only feeling the ability to use Barrier if anything came close.

Unaware of his luck, the cave was lit up by someone passing through, but to Glim, he thought nothing other than some threat and summoned his Barrier again, which lit himself up and made him easier to spot.

'Glim!' called Beryl, running for the scared, vulnerable little glaceon. Though Glim recognised the braixen's pretty voice, he was still too frightened to release the Barrier. Beryl just ran into it and then kneeled down to try and see Glim's face, who was facing the walls. 'Glim, it's me, Beryl! Are you alright? What's wrong?'

Slowly, the glaceon turned, meeting his traumatised tiny pupils with the desperate, but beautiful eyes of Beryl. Just seeing the gash on Glim's back gave the braixen the idea that he was attacked.

'B-Beryl?' asked Glim, resisting to cry.

The braixen lightly thumped the Barrier. 'It's me Glim, please let me help you, we've got to get out of here.'

'H-h-he's still out there.'

Beryl paused with a worried expression. 'Who is?'

* * *

Somewhere else in a deep dark cave. Angel and Terri were lit up by a light coming from a wall of set snow, just in front of them. Together they were trying to yank out the light.

'Come on, harder!' grunted Angel.

'I'm trying!' squeaked the cranidos, pulling the weavile back.

Suddenly, a blue haired kirlia broke free from the ice, causing Angel and Terri to fall back, while she rolled forward and gasping for air.

'You okay Karli?' demanded Angel, leaping over to her.

Karli just laid on her back, still breathing rapidly, but she smiled and gave a thumbs up. The source of the light was coming from the magical leaves Karli had summoned on her other hand, which she used to signal where she was, when Angel came by.

'She's out of breath and probably light-headed. You think you could…' said Angel, looking at Terri, who only just got back up and waddled toward him. 'Ah… nevermind, I'll carry you, okay Kar?'

Again, Karli only responded with a thumbs up, still breathing deeply. The weavile easily picked her up, placing the kirlia over his shoulder. He and the cranidos then proceeded down the only cave that was there. Thankfully, it was only a minute before they reached an exit. A wall of ice and snow, but with faint light visible on the other side, meaning it was just a hollow wall to the outside.

'There, there!' Angel cried happily, pointing at the ice. 'An exit, can you-'

Before Angel even got to ask, the cranidos charged into the ice with all her momentum and repeatedly head-butted it. Seeing only slight ruptures in the ice, the weavile attempted to put Karli down to help Terri, while the kirlia was beginning to get her breath back. But then, the wall glowed a bright orange and dissolved into hot water. Terri leaped back in surprise and Angel just watched, after sitting the kirlia down. The wall of ice melted so rapidly, discharging a vast cloud of steam, temporarily blinding the three in the cave.

'Beryl?' called Angel, trying to wave the steam away. 'Is that you buddy?'

When the steam began to clear, the cave was being entered by a rather dark figure on four legs, who seemed deeply observant on the three pokémon.

He growled. 'Where's my boyfriend?'


	12. The burns of death and love

Chapter 12  
'The burns of death and love'

* * *

Slowly, a wall of ice melted, suddenly crumbling while steaming majorly. Seconds later, a little braixen cautiously peeked his head out of the narrow gap between tremendous stones and the hill of snow just next to it, which was the avalanche that had set. After a few seconds of aimless observing and listening, Beryl pulled himself back inside the gap, to see the tense little glaceon behind him, just staring up at the elegant fox boy with his enormous, beautiful, but terrified eyes.

'I-I don't see anyone Glim.' Beryl uttered. 'I don't even know what part of Dwy we're at, or even if our friends are okay.'

'Not- not even any unown?'

'Unown? Is that what this "Martyr" is?'

'No, no- well… I-I don't know exactly what it is. But here, he's- he's- it's in human form.'

The braixen turned and kneeled down to the quivering glaceon. He felt conflicted, wanting to argue that the humans were extinct, yet could not build the strength to disagree, seeing those big, distraught eyes before him.

'Glim, calm down…' he said, stroking the glaceon's face, seeing the ice needles erecting on Glim's back. 'The coast seems clear, which we need to get to anyway, remember?'

Not that he forgotten about the mission at paw, however, Glim was shaken out from the avalanches, what he saw on top of the cliffs, which was when he was attacked by the human remnant of Martyr. The glaceon's long diamond-shaped ears perked up when Beryl comforted him, reminding him about what they needed to do, but looking out of the cave was making his paws vibrate in shock. He really did not want to leave.

The elegant fox boy stood. 'Okay, I'll go first and if it's safe, I'll call you.' he said, already turning to leave the cave. Glim tried to stop him, but was ignored, letting Beryl skip hurriedly out into the open snowfield.

Outside, the mist had picked up, creating thick fog, so Beryl began glancing back to keep an eye on the gap he left from and to see what became of the avalanche. From where he was, the braixen could still see the top of Dwy, even in the fog, which seemed thicker along the coast. Beryl was worried, though he could not see any of what Glim had told him about Martyr, he was not seeing his friends either. Not wanting to yell out for his friends, Beryl ran back to the cave, to see the cowering glaceon had not budged.

'There's nothing, Glim. But, not even our friends either, we have to find them now!' without waiting, Beryl leapt out of the cave and began trailing along the slope. Glim meanwhile finally gathered the courage to stand and follow the braixen, afraid to be alone.

It was eerily quiet outside, despite the deafening volume of the avalanches that occurred. Not even the sea was moving enough to make its splashes. All the little glaceon could hear in fact were the paw steps of Beryl, sinking into the snow as he ran without him. The braixen followed the sloping hill until it was level enough, which he then jumped onto, sinking to his knees in the much softer snow. Instead of squeaking about how cold he became, Beryl looked out for anybody else, but saw nobody. Nothing but the mushy slope of snow, stretching to the coast, masked by fog. Perhaps their friends were already on coast, just further along, where the fog was hiding them, Beryl thought.

The braixen struggled his way through the thick snow before leaping out and only running five steps before hearing a voice echoing to his right.

'Beryl!' called Mercury, emerging round a tall rock, only appearing to the braixen as a dark figure in the fog.

The fox boy waved, replying to the lucario who did not appear to be alone, someone much smaller was just behind him. Beryl looked back to see if Glim had caught up, who had already made his way around the slope, standing metres behind the braixen, looking around frantically. Feeling safe, Beryl looked back to Mercury who continued running over, tailed by Austin the graveler, who kept grunting in annoyance about the cold. The braixen ran over to regroup, keen to ask if they had seen anyone else.

Getting left behind again, Glim noticed the three uniting on the open space. He was about to run over to unite as well, when he felt something, a faint tremor beneath his paws. The sensation felt so odd, he paused, and stared in shock at the direction he felt the rumble, which was heading over to his friends. The glaceon looked down, at his paws, which was only in front of the level slope made by the avalanche. He brushed the snow in front of him, realising something horrifying, he and his friends were standing on thin ice and something was underneath it.

The glaceon glanced up at his friends and screamed 'guys run!'

Beryl, Mercury and Austin looked at Glim with only curiosity on their faces, as they seemed to mishear him, when suddenly, the ice all around them appeared to erupt. As the three friends became hidden in rising snow and water, a great beast rose into the air, roaring like it had multiple voices, before crashing back into the water. The shocked glaceon caught a glimpse of Austin who was dragged into the water, while he was struggling to escape.

'No!' screamed Glim, running blindly toward the hole in the ice, unable to see any of his friends when all the snow and water fell.

'We pleaded.' whispered several voices, coming from the fog.

Catching the glaceon's attention were three green lights, emerging from the mist that had become much thicker. Glim already knew Martyr were present, but seeing the unown draw closer to him in that way sent more chills down his spine. Feeling as though he became targeted, Glim ran faster, passing the hole as he ran. As before he felt a faint rumble, when suddenly the ice just behind him blew upward, catapulting the little glaceon forward and making him helplessly slide across the ice. Glim quickly found his footing when he slowed enough and was unlucky enough to be seeing what was coming out of the ice water.

Struggling to climb its enormous body out the water, the Martyr manifestation clearly resembled a walrein and a granbull, as if their heads were merged, having the wide jaw and eyes of the granbull, while the head was the same fin-mask as a walrein. As part of that fusion, it had the granbull's bulky arms, still with its punk braces and collar, yet its body was very obese, giving it trouble leaving the water.

It seemed the fusion of that Martyr remnant was not just a walrein and granbull, Glim noticed what looked like a lone cannon behind its head and it was not until Martyr finally pulled itself onto the ice, was it detectably a kingdra also. Its misshaped mermaid tail with the seahorse fins, and the chunky, scaly back were the adaptations of the kingdra, which was fused facing backwards. The kingdra's head still had its eyes, just visible over the dominant walrein head, making it look like some cannon backpack. The whole manifestation was clearly chosen to be formidable yet durable in icy conditions.

'We wailed.' the voices continued. 'We died. We are Martyr. Revenge be ours!'

The giant sea lion hybrid roared, showing off it enormous teeth as it poorly leaped forward, giving itself enough momentum to slide toward Glim, who was quick to glow in light and fire his beam of rainbows, he knew that would fight Martyr. Upon contact, as with the previous remnants, Martyr wailed loudly, jittering and rapidly changing colours, while the nearby unown would also shake violently. However, the Signal Beam was not stopping the beast where it was, which proceeded to helplessly crash into Glim, who tried to leap away, ending up getting dragged along the ice, under the fat tail of the creature.

Martyr's sliding stopped rather quickly, leaving the little glaceon to struggle out of the intense weight. Desperate to escape, Glim suddenly slipped out when the sea lion lifted itself, making him fall on his front. When he quickly found his footing, he could see the towering beast raising its left arm, about to hammer him. Feeling the same reaction from the human form of Martyr earlier, the glaceon tensed, his crown shone instantly creating a spherical Barrier, shielding him just on time. Though he was majorly protected, Glim was struck through the very ice he stood on, sending him metres into the pitch black water.

Even for an ice pokémon, the water felt too cold for Glim, which was only uncomfortable for general ice types. Worse still, knowing that Mercury, Austin and Beryl were forced down there, he could not imagine how it felt.

Knowing that Martyr would be waiting on the ice, the glaceon figured to use Signal Beam again, before he would swim desperately for the breath he missed. Suddenly, a giant hand swiftly reached down from the hole and tightly grabbed Glim where he was. Immediately, he knew that Martyr was going to hold him there to drown. In a desperate retaliation, Glim burst out what was left of his breath, firing his beam of light at the arm, which forced the monster to let go as it tried to hold the glaceon still. Glim became desperate for air, swimming closer to the hole, but his efforts seemed in vain, when Martyr raised its arm, accidentally hitting the little glaceon out of the water, breaking more of the ice.

Hurling back onto the plain of ice, Glim slid away, breathing deeply, only hoping that his Snow Cloak would activate. Luckily for the glaceon, it seemed Martyr was occupied with something else. Out of nowhere, a bluish explosion flamed on the sea lion's head, making it flinch slightly, as a blue and black jackal-like pokémon fell from the air, landing meters away from Glim. Upon landing, the lucario spots the glaceon's faint aura.

'Glim!' shouted Mercury, turning to face Martyr, as it clumsily tried to find the lucario.

'Mercury!'

'What the hell is this thing!'

'Long story!'

Hearing their voices, the Martyr remnant knew it was facing the wrong way and instead laid down, which began to activate the kingdra. The fused seahorse inhaled deeply, making a horrific hissing noise, before shooting a laser of concentrated water into the sky. High in the air, the water arced, forming thousands of drops that froze out of sheer cold, turning into giant icicles and began to rain down like comets. Mercury could see its strategy and bolted to the cowering glaceon, swiftly picking him up as he was running. Immediately afterward, the icicles rapidly crashed into the ice like rocks, puffing up snow and mist on each impact that surrounded Martyr. Despite the thickness of the blinding mist, Mercury utilised his aura capabilities to see the presences of the ice that became pillars, erecting from the frozen water. Even when the icicles continued to rain down, the lucario elegantly sidestepped at the right moments, making every fatal ice strike a near miss, while he continued to circle round the front of the monster.

Martyr knew it would be too slow to hit the lucario, but attempted to counter his manoeuvre by using Dragon Tail, forcing the beat to make a mighty 360 spin, unleashing its sheer mass and weight. Only just spotting the dynamic movement of the walrein hybrid in the corner of his eye, Mercury was quick enough to leap up and high enough over the tail. The tremendous jump took both Mercury and the carried glaceon out of the flurry of ice, sending them crashing across the ice, sliding toward to the first hole Martyr had risen from.

'Shit, shit!' cried Mercury, trying to stop himself by grinding his right paw spike into the ice. Finally they came to a complete stop, right next to the hole. 'Whoa.'

Mercury noticed Beryl on the other side of the hole, struggling to pull himself out, desperately clamouring and wheezing like a dying rat. He looked a mess, all his fur completely matted, his ear fur just draped over his back and his face. Like fire type pokémon, his body was steaming viciously as a result of trying to heat up his body from the insanely cold water Beryl was taken in to. The braixen's change from charmingly beautiful, to looking like a struggling zombie, crawling away like he had no legs was horrific, and the lucario nearby only saw two seconds of it.

'Glim!' said Mercury, rolling away from the hole and adjusting his hold on the glaceon, so he was holding him with both paws. Almost face to face, they shared eye contact. The glaceon seemed frightened, yet serious, while Mercury took a glance to his left, to see where Martyr was from the distance, before looking over to the braixen. 'Beryl needs your help, go!'

Without warning or preparation, the lucario flung Glim over the hole as hard as he could. A little too hard though, sending the glaceon spinning out of control and crashing metres ahead of the half dead fox boy. Glim got himself back on his feet, shaking off the snow around him before running to the braixen who looked too disorientated to even recognise the glaceon. He dug his crown under the braixen's arm and lifted him up enough for Beryl to hold onto the little glaceon with one arm, but that was enough to show just how desperate the braixen's body was fighting for its warmth. Glim yelped, feeling his neck and back getting scalded by Beryl's sheer body heat, causing him to run as fast as he could.

Eager to help Glim and Beryl escape, Mercury swiftly kicked his way back onto his feet, by which time, the walrein hybrid was already charging toward him, though it seemed to be after what was behind him. Knowing that ice was vulnerable to fighting, the lucario focused the same blue flames in his paws and fired another Aura Sphere to the massive jaw of the Martyr remnant. On contact, it barely flinched and only gave a slight growl in pain, which also meant it was not stopping either.

The toughness of the monster forced the lucario to have some disbelief, as he had to dive to his left to dodge the charging monster. When Mercury succeeded in his manoeuvre, he continued to fire more Aura Sphere attacks at it. Again, his attacks were seemingly ignored and judging by the screams of Glim in the distance, the glaceon was not going to be running for long. In an attempt to slow down Martyr, Mercury leaped up, glowing silver and beamed his Flash Cannon attack into the thin ice in the path of the hybrid. The attack instantly cut a jagged line in front of the charging beast, causing it to fall into the water, crashing against the ice that had not broken away as quickly. Martyr sunk in to the water, while Mercury landed safely on the much bigger half of the frozen water that remained.

Further ahead, the glaceon was still screaming, running over the slope that he and Beryl had crossed previously, until both he and his burning hot braixen friend fell forward. Glim was shamefully relieved to have Beryl off him, allowing his back and neck to cool down and was uncaring about their tumble. The steaming hot braixen slid a little further than the burned glaceon, who became a little fidgety with the burn constantly stinging his back.

Suddenly, much further away from the two boys, Mercury began hearing violent, overlapping hissing and screams of rage as unown were appearing to glare at him from a distance. He had not noticed the unown, however, just by looking at their very existence, he could tell something was horribly wrong with them. Their auras were extremely fidgety and surprisingly big and a wavering in multiple colours, mostly red. Mercury only seemed curious and confused to what he was looking at, all unown had the exact same aura, like they were connected somehow. Whatever they were doing there, it was clear they were surprisingly powerful, yet overworked and outright bloodthirsty. He did not know what he should do, the unown seemed like they were trying to intimidate the lucario, but Mercury could not see what their intentions were or even if they were part of Martyr, not with the colossal mental mess that was visible through their auras.

Staring intently at the unown, whilst looking out for the Martyr remnant that had fallen into the water, Mercury felt a sudden gust of wind behind him, sensing that something had just materialised. He glanced round, only seeing the face of a dead human, who was already swinging a shining object against his head.

Glim was glancing round, looking out for the walrein hybrid when he heard a loud, sharp thud far in front of him. Before he got a good look at what the noise was, he caught a glimpse of some spherical object bouncing metres to his left at a great speed. The glaceon glanced left to see what it was, but it had already fallen into the sea, not far to Glim's left. Unsure of what it was, he glanced forward again, seeing two figures on the remaining half of the frozen water that appeared stable. The two human shaped figures had unown surrounding them, which then separated, floating away, as one of the figures simply fell on its right. There was no mistaking what the other was, Glim recognised the dark green outfit and the same shining object in its hand from before. The glaceon's eyes went small as he struggled to get back on his feet to either escape or aid Beryl.

Upon trying to approach the shivering braixen, who was trying to crawl away, Glim and Beryl was suddenly thrown up into the air by something crashing beneath the ice they were laying on. They were fortunate enough to not be hit into the water which was not far from them and instead further north, passed the cave they had left, but due to their previous situations, they were left helpless to crash onto the ice and slide out their momentum. Beryl used his momentum to roll further away, anything to get away, back into a cave or to warm himself up.

The glaceon meanwhile felt a pulse of injustice, making him look up with fire in his eyes. He happened to be facing the beaten, dizzied Martyr remnant, emerging from the water once more and hissing angrily at Glim. Before the giant hybrid could even begin to approach, the glaceon furiously roared his Signal Beam at the easy target, making it severely disorientate, scream and change colour for as long as Glim could. But then, while he held the beast with his beam of rainbows, he noticed a wellington boot stomp near the right of his face. Unable to move without letting the walrein hybrid go, the glaceon could only tilt his head and look up as much as he could, to see the tall human figure, with fury in its eyes as it raised its blinding weapon into the air. Glim knew what was coming next, the same that just happened to Mercury, but overwhelmed by both rage and terror, he only braced himself, tightly closing his eyes, refusing to stop Martyr. However, Glim's luck had struck back, when a wall fire blazed like a giant laser right next to the frail glaceon, seemingly ridding of the Martyr that stood next to him. The flame was so hot just standing next to, Glim called off his attack and poorly dived away from the blaze. It was then he realised how exhausted he was and light-headed his last attack made him, having no energy to move at all. The glaceon just laid on his left, seeing the Martyr hybrid still jittering from taking the Signal Beam, and nearby, the beam of fire was dying down, revealing something resisting on the end of it. It was the human, with its arm raised and burnt black, appearing to be enduring the ferocious flame within its hand. When the blaze finally died down, Martyr remained standing, but appeared to have lost its weapon. Instead, it retaliated by creating blue flames of its own, which Glim recognised to be Aura Sphere. Martyr swung its arm forward, firing the intensely shining blue ball toward where the flames were coming from.

'No!' screamed Angel, joining the fight, who Glim could not see, but recognise his voice.

A short explosion flashed, followed by the sounds of a manly scream and rocks being smashed from what Glim could hear. The only thing he saw then, was the human representative raise its arm at the worn out glaceon, suddenly lifting him in Telekinesis, making Glim squeak in surprise. He was then rapidly pulled through the air toward Martyr's hand, preparing to chokehold him. However, just before the human succeeded, it was blown back by a stream of darkness, falling near the damaged remnant and leaving frail Glim to fall where it was just standing.

'Get away from him.' angrily growled a low voice, familiar to the glaceon as he saw a big black front leg step in front of him, as if shielding him.

Martyr in the distance easily rolled back onto its feet, next to the mobilising walrein hybrid, still appearing to fight on. Until, a horn sounded in the thick fog, far behind the human. It was the sound of Captain Ariel passing by, ready to take the next batch of rebels. Taking one look back, Martyr quickly vanished, leaving its tremendous beast to charge forward, which it was then met by two beams of fire, one just above Glim. Joining the simultaneous attacks, multiple shining leafs zipped into it. All the attacks were not slowing down its rampage, but it and the kingdra half of it slowly hissed to roaring in pain. Just when it looked like it was finally about to fall, it took a critical left turn, flying toward Glim, whose conscious was barely holding. Suddenly, a certain weavile flew into the face of the beast, tackling with his giant darkened claw as hard as he could, countering the fierce momentum it built up. With the help of the strengthened flamethrowers, the beast finally came to a stop, only metres away from the defenceless glaceon and his saviour.

The Martyr remnant began turning black and shrinking as the previous forms had. The others had called off their attacks, but Angel, Beryl and Terri who were audibly present were freaking out at what they were seeing.

'Calm down!' shouted Karli, confirming her presence for the glaceon. 'I've seen this before! It's just gonna- um.'

Before Karli could even finish, Martyr had already shrunk to point of revealing three little pokémon once again. That time, the pokémon were a snubble, a spheal and horsea, which were all jittering and crying, but not in pain. As before, the three undead pokémon were held up by the nearby unown.

'What the hell?' blurted Angel, taking steps back, moving out from what Glim could see of the situation.

'One of them, killed us.' whispered three voices, resisting to cry. 'All of us.'

The little pokémon and unown then disappeared, the same method as the human, but so did Glim's conscious, as his sight just turned black while still being able to hear.

'What the hell was that!' continued Angel, not really asking anybody.

'Its- it's a- it's a long story!' interrupted Karli. 'We've gotta get to that-'

'The extraction!' called Angel, quickly running off.

'Wait up! You two okay?'

'Where's Austin?' cried Terri.

'We'll find him, but right now, we need to get to that shoreline.' Karli moved in the opposite direction of Angel, from what Glim could hear of her footsteps. Terri meanwhile stomped after the weavile. 'Beryl, you alright sweet?'

'I-I…' he puffed, breathing deeply. 'I can't move.'

'Hold on.'

While the kirlia was aiding the injured braixen, Glim in his void could feel something warm, nuzzling him.

'Don't worry Glim, I'm here. I finally found you.' whispered a familiar voice, who then licked behind Glim's ear. The tongue was uncomfortably hot, yet oddly pleasurable. Only one boy had ever spoke and touched the glaceon in that way.

'Shadow?' he mumbled, before passing out.

There were frequent jolts of awakening from the glaceon, while his friends were unaware of his peeking eyes and eavesdropping. He realised he was carried on the back of the very houndoom who fell in love with him and there was a desperate struggle getting onto the boat. Glim was not conscious for long.

'What the hell was that thing?' demanded Ariel, whose voice was stern, unsettling and serious.

'We'll explain later,' replied Angel. 'We have injured and we need to go, now!'

'Then get on board! What're you waitin' for?'

'Karli, move!'

'Then fucking help me!' argued Karli.

By the sounds of it, the kirlia and weavile were forcing something into the boat, who Glim assumed to be Beryl. When the glaceon's sight came for a moment, he could see the boat was merely a small, wooden supplies vessel with a weather proofed sheet tied over it. At the front, was the spoken lapras, Captain Ariel. The way she was leaning over and looking back, Glim could see that she was enormous and brutally scarred, all across her face. When the houndoom began to move into the cargo as well, the glaceon slipped out of consciousness again.

* * *

'Camellias is such a beautiful place, is it not?' asked another familiar voice. 'As beautiful as she is.'

'It's you again.' replied Glim, that time unsettled, unknowing of the mysterious female who he was talking to. 'Who are you?'

'Curious, are you not, Glim?'

'I don't know who you are, but you know me and what I'm doing. How do I know you're not part of Martyr?'

'That is a good question, but even though I can assure you that the question is quite the contrary. That is up to you to believe, for I have no proof right now.' she paused, and Glim had nothing to argue with. 'You must believe this though, something you need to know now and inform your friends as soon as you remember.'

'What is it?'

'When you dock on Verity's northern shoreline, you must cross the country region to avoid Larkspur Town, at all costs.'

'Larkspur Town? Why?'

'It is not in the headlines yet, but that place, being the most religious sect in Crio, has become a cult. You would have to be there, to understand just how bad it is over there. They may not have received any Dragon Raids, but they are faithful to the Republic and the town has pretty much turned into a slaughterhouse. In short, regardless of age, gender or faith, people who go in are extremely lucky to get out alive. Do you understand me Glim?'

'Yes, I do, but how will I convince my friends of this if I didn't know?'

'Tell them you heard rumours, or that Yuki gave you a final warning as you left.'

'Okay. Wait, how do you know Yuki?'

'That does not matter, Glim. It is best-'

'Actually, better question, that houndoom who saved me. Was that Shadow?'

'It was.'

'Then why didn't you tell me he was alive! I wanted to die at Hydrangea's prison.'

'Because if I did, you would not have ended up at Camellias, abandoning your friends and ending up in a far worse predicament.'

Glim paused. 'But… how do you know that?'

'That… is a question only you must answer.'

The two fell silent, which the glaceon then knew their conversation had ended.

* * *

The big pretty eyes of the little glaceon fluttered open, heavily disorientated after passing out and waking up on a constantly moving vessel. His vision was blurry, only looking up at the grey cover. Glim's hearing was returning, unveiling just how noisy it was where he laid. Just to his right, laid Beryl, still breathing in pain, holding himself tightly in multiple blankets and to his left were the remaining survivors, all in an argument, trying to understand what Martyr was. Karli seemed completely serious about what she had seen and kept telling when Glim wakes up, he would confirm the rest. By the sounds of what Glim was hearing above him, it sounded like it was raining too, unable to zone out the thousands of tap noises hitting the cargo cover.

Just by looking at the frail braixen, Glim realised both he and Beryl were resting in the emergency spaces, for those who needed medical attention. But his fur began to erect out of excitement and relief when he looked to his left, to see the very houndoom he had missed, just sitting right next to him, like he had watched him and waited for him to wake up. At that moment, Shadow appeared part of the argument between Karli, Angel and Terri. It was not until the weak glaceon budged as close as he could and touch the dark hound with his freezing little paw, did Glim or his houndoom get their reunion. Shadow glanced at him, gasping as he did, joining eye contact for the first time since they reunited.

'Glim!' cried Shadow excitedly, whipping his demon tail and partly climbing onto the bed to nuzzle the little glaceon.

Hearing the name, the argument silenced. Even Beryl put in the effort to roll to his left and see Glim awaken. The little glaceon looked so exhausted, yet intoxicated by the very sight of the houndoom before him. He wanted to cry, wanted to grasp the hound tightly, which he had no energy for. The last time he saw Shadow, flashing in his mind, was being chained on a freezing wall, well above an elongated meat grinder, hiding in darkness far below him.

'Shadow?' he croaked, already knowing it was him, but his daze made him demand confirmation.

The houndoom nodded happily. 'It's me, Glim… I'm here.'

'I thought you were dead.'

'We thought the same for you, when Lilac got raided.'

'How did you survive?'

'After the Dragon Raid, most of Symphonia caved in, but two girls came to free us. But… because of how messed up we were on those walls… the Republic cronies easily arrested us.'

Glim gasped. 'So they didn't kill any of you?'

'No, not even Jane who tried to fight back. We ended up at Hydrangea's Royal Talon.' hearing that revelation, made Glim clench his teeth. He realised that not only was Vice Vora the metagross lying to him, but his friends must have been in the same prison, the whole time he was there. 'When they took us there, I picked up your scent. That smell I could not forget. I knew you were still alive, but we were held there until a few days ago, when that magnezone overridden the prison and released us.'

The glaceon's ears sprang up. 'You mean Sergeant?'

'That's what he said his name was.'

'What happened to it? How'd you escape?'

'Wasn't difficult, but since we were chained, he and a few other rebel guards came and released us. Before we knew it, the prison became both an exodus and a warzone. Damn, we had to get out of there, the magnezone warned of another Dragon Raid coming, and then he got into a fight with that asshole metagross.'

'Vice.' said Glim, angrily.

'He was willingly sacrificing himself, to let us escape, but Jane went back to "return a favour" she said. But really she wanted to pummel that metagross for what he did to her.'

'What did it do to her?'

'Well, after you guys escaped, their mercenaries who came late, were demanding information about this female alakazam who broke you guys out.'

Having been released of the houndoom's warm grip, the glaceon shared eye contact with Angel and Karli for a moment, all sharing the same unsure expression. None of them knew who the alakazam was, making Glim answer back by shaking his head.

'We didn't know who she was either.'

'Yeah,' interjected Angel, Shadow looked back at him. 'She came outta nowhere, persuading me to bail out "chicks".'

'They also mentioned a sneasel.' continued Shadow, assuming the weavile to have evolved since that event. 'Was that you?'

Angel winked. 'It was, been keepin-'

'So then, they were super pissed about their guards getting wrecked like that and thought we knew who she was… the- the alakazam.' nodded Shadow. 'Jane started talking shit to 'em, predictably. And then that messed up metagross sunk his fist into Jane's head, almost killing her. Damn, when we got released, Meg and I had to run over to the medical centre to find Jane.' Glim recognised the name 'Meg', but had forgotten it was the bayleef he befriended in Symphonia. 'Turned out, she was alive and kicking, literally, and that she only lost an eye.'

The more he was hearing, the happier the glaceon was feeling, even though he was not showing it, to hear of his friends being alive. When Shadow finished, he budged more and more, trying to get off the steady cushioned bed. The houndoom finally stepped off, letting the glaceon try and climb down.

'Yeah, come over and sit with us Glim.' the little glaceon crept off the bed, struggling to keep his balance on the peaceful, silent waves. 'You okay Beryl?'

It took at least ten seconds for the braixen to with respond with 'I still… f-feel freezing.' he said, breathing deeply.

At the front of the boat, behind the tough wood between them, the captain replied with 'just keep warm and let the meds kick in, Bell sweetie. Shadow, you wanna warm him up?'

The captain's advice brought a shock to the houndoom's eyes, as he glanced to his little boyfriend a little concerned, but Glim did not seem affected by the suggestion. In fact, to him, Angel and Karli, it seemed like a good idea, since houndoom were fire types.

'Yeah,' interjected Karli. 'Beryl is suffering and needs to be warmed up!'

The weavile meanwhile, understood Shadow's hesitation, seeing as his priorities was with Glim, and it was commonly thought as a sexual act when guys hold each other. The glaceon however seemed immune to the masculine side of the conversation and just remained confused, misunderstanding the question in the houndoom's eyes.

Angel decided to answer on Shadow's behalf. 'Y-you're okay with that, right Glim?'

Still misunderstanding, Glim replied 'Uh- y-yeah, why're you asking me?'

'Okay, okay, Beryl!' called Angel and Shadow, both stuttering awkwardly.

'Yes?' the braixen weakly replied.

'Sit over with me, and I'll keep you warm, okay?'

It was not until, Beryl struggled his way onto the bench and leaning against the very warm houndoom like a couple, did Glim understand what all the awkward hesitation was about. However, he knew Shadow was deeply infatuated with him and that Beryl was suffering from the cold.

Altogether, the crew paused, just waiting for someone to answer. Angel was a little flustered about speaking on behalf of Shadow. The kirlia next to the weavile was waiting for Glim or Shadow to say something. The lonely cranidos seemed sorrowful, staring at the braixen. The glaceon remained staring at Shadow, keen to know more about Jane and Ben, curious as to why they were not with him. While the timid little braixen was getting himself comfortable on the houndoom, Shadow was plagued by worry, feeling like he was cheating his boyfriend, right next to him and desperate for someone to start the next conversation.

Answering Shadow's prayer was Karli. 'So… Glim. As you can see… some of us aren't here.' Karli said, as sensitively as she could. Terri nearby still stared at Beryl, seeming a little sadder, even Beryl sighed.

Glim looked around, only noticing that Austin and Mercury were not around, but then he remembered what happened and realised that the kirlia was subtly asking him about the lucario. Mercury was not actually going to join them, rather than to help them find the extraction point, but after the avalanches and Martyr's attack, everybody lost track of time, place and objectives.

'He… wasn't with you guys when we loaded up.' said Angel. 'Did he go back?'

'He was killed, by Martyr.' mumbled Glim. 'He was trying to help me and Beryl escape… but when I looked back, I saw them and Mercury fell down after getting his head cut off.' Angel sighed, Karli gasped quietly. 'I think I even saw his head roll by, before I saw them… it was really fast though.'

Shadow clenched his teeth, wrapping his demon-like tail over the glaceon to comfort him. However, the houndoom only ended up badly stinging Glim, rubbing against a long burn mark, making him jump up, squeaking in pain.

'Oh god, sorry!' cried Shadow. 'I'm so sorry Glim.'

In the middle of the group circle, the little glaceon spun round, trying to see his back.

'Yeah Glim,' interjected Karli. 'You have some nasty burns on your back. What happened there?'

Glim was just able to see one massive gash on the lower half of his back, mostly going over the top of the big navy diamond pattern of his coat. The one behind his neck, going past his shoulders was at an even worse condition. His wondering of how he got these burn scars did not last long, as he glanced at the vulnerable braixen who was still steaming and remembered the brutally hot contact he had, when they tried to escape Martyr.

'Oh yeah. That- that doesn't matter, what happened to Jane, and Ben?' asked Glim, approaching Shadow. 'Where are they?'

The houndoom paused. 'Well…'

* * *

It was only two days ago, on Monday, when the magnezone sergeant named Sergeant, rejected its loyalty with the Republic it had served for over eight years. Carried on throughout the night and Tuesday morning to infiltrate Hydrangea's Royal Talon prison, which was not particularly difficult for it. Sergeant found that it was not a most wanted fugitive until hours after the operation at the death camp. It seemed that Vice Vora, the brutal metagross who was in recovery knew about Sergeant's betrayal, even before the prime minister did.

Shadow resumed his story starting when he and Meg reunited with Ben outside the prison, while the riots were happening behind them. The prison, blaring its alarms had fallen into a warzone both within the death camp and on the outside, where rebelling citizens were charging in to either save the refugees or to destroy the outside while the Royal Talon was severely occupied. Having left the courtyards, which were ablaze with brawls and bloodshed, the houndoom and bayleef had to struggle their way out of a large hole broken through the main prison wall, amongst fleeing inmates. The scene looked like something seen in a war movie.

Knowing that Ben would have had to leave through the main entrance for getting a head start, Shadow knew he was going to head north and take cover in the nearest street alleyways to the prison. It did not take even a minute for the houndoom and bayleef to disappear into an alleyway, as there were so many of them, but they did have to run blindly for a minute to find Ben, despite being a big pokémon mutated from rubbish. He was not alone, Ben was accompanied with Clara the bellossom, a little fennekin who was scared out of her mind, a bergmite and a yanma. The giant pokémon made of rubbish appeared to be shielding the children, while Clara was comforting the bawling fennekin.

'Ben!' called Shadow, charging down the same alley.

'Shadow!' he responded. 'Sorry I took so long my friend.'

Shadow slid to a stop, seeming surprised, taking one glance at the three children who were present. 'Wait, for what?'

Meg had caught up and continued, running passed the houndoom. 'Clara!' she cried, proceeding to hug the bellossom, who was forced to make it a group hug as she was still caring for Cecily the fennekin.

'I took a little longer gett'in out of there.' continued Ben, looking at the children. 'I had to help these kids, we couldn't just leave'em.' though scared, Jenny the bergmite and Myer the yanma looked up at the garbodor like some hero. Given the situation at hand, Shadow could only respect him, as they were on the outskirts of a warzone. That however was not Ben's current point of notice as he looked at both Shadow and Meg nervously. 'Where's Jane?'

All in one second, Shadow's ears twitched, and pupils shortened as he glanced round and realised that their infernape friend had not followed them. 'Oh crap, Jane!' without any hesitation or thought, he bolted away, leaving his friends to only watch.

By the time the houndoom had leaped out of the alleyways, having to climb up one of the smaller block of flats to avoid the crowds, the wide street, between the residential block and the fearsome Crio prison was a complete swarm of brawls. From land to air, citizens sided with revolutionaries to fight the Republic and prison guards, which was everywhere. The brutal scene was packed with pokémon of all types, making just one fire and fighting pokémon difficult to spot. Trying to pick up Jane's scent was even harder, due to the warzone being an array of dreadful stenches. However, it seemed that Shadow did not need to smell to find her. Just being on the roof, he could see another fierce brawl taking place on the rooftop of the prison reception building, just opposite him.

On the very elongated building rooftop, neighbouring the enormous building for C-rated to D-rated criminal cells, the roof and its features was barely stable, enduring frequent tremors from a certain infernape and a metagross. Sergeant was also present, but it appeared badly hurt, slammed against the floor and the wall it was trying to free itself from. Jane and Vice Vora were not in much better conditions. The infernape had been given an eye patch for her right eye and judging by her situation, she was brutally torturing her fists and feet, all of which were on fire and covered in scratches. The enraged metagross meanwhile had changed colour, having turned a much darker navy and with dents all over it.

As soon as Shadow noticed the brawl, the infernape was already in the air, using the giant floating machine as a makeshift lift, who was desperately trying to fist her. Vice Vora hissed in rage, taking a hard swing, but Jane only blocked the punch away, using it to boost herself even higher and with the metagross overdoing its attack, the infernape took the opportunity to flip forward and use her gravity to strike a devastating backward-kick. As the kick emitted an echoing boom, the giant machine lost its levitation, hurtling down to the roof like a comet. Its impact caused the roof to break severely, chucking up chunks of fragments into the crater, where Vice Vora had crashed. Jane meanwhile had to hit the ground with her arms and feet, for being so high, which she landed flawlessly. Both the infernape and metagross leaped out of their landings heading toward one another. Jane appeared to erupt in flames, charging to the fierce machine, but was countered by Vice Vora when it zoomed forward with a lightning fast Bullet Punch. She was hit out of her momentum, but surprisingly, the attack did not hurt her too bad, so when she cleanly landed, wiping the blood from her upper lip, she was prepared for the zooming metagross that still approached. Right when Vice Vora unleashed its next fist attack, Jane grabbed the oncoming iron leg and used its momentum against it, swinging the enormous machine round and round until she leaped up and swung the metagross downward. Vice Vora smashed through the toughened roof, disappearing below, roaring as it did, while Jane almost fell down with it, grabbing onto the edge of the huge hole. Before she could finish pulling herself up, her beaten fist was met by a paw, hastily pulling her up.

'Jane!' said Shadow, badly hiding his amazement. 'You alright-'

Sergeant called out 'we need to get out of here, now!'

'What, why?' Shadow asked, glancing round to see the magnezone was barely floating, Jane just next to him meanwhile, easily stood back up, in spite of her own damage.

Sergeant slowly spun round, raising its only working magnet, pointing at the sky, where miles away, thousands of pokémon of different types where blackening the horizon. Another Dragon Raid was coming, confirmed by the sirens that began to blare for the sea bound city.

'Ah shit.' sulked Jane.

'We have approximately eleven seconds before we're up there with them!' answered Sergeant.

'Can you move?' demanded the infernape, while Shadow leaped hurriedly, only to stop and look back at Jane grabbing the magnezone.

'Not fast enough, just leave me.'

Jane then grabbed the big mechanical pokémon with both hands. 'Not happening.' she then spun round, swinging Sergeant as she did to Vice Vora and threw it into the air, giving it the momentum it needed to levitate over the main wall.

While Sergeant struggled to fly from the battlefield it disappeared into, Jane and Shadow followed suit, bolting off the main building rooftop and out of the main entrance, being far safer than going over the fiercely barb-wired wall. Though Jane was expecting to face an all-out war as soon as she left the gates, the street had suddenly turned into an exodus where the surviving pokémon stormed away, panicking over the Dragon Raid that was imminent. As anticipated, the bug pokémon of the Dragon Raid flew over first, directing where the raid is to strike, whilst detecting any possible VIPs or valuable targets. Only a second later, the prison began to blow up from right to left behind the infernape and houndoom as they ran. The explosions got louder, meaning that the street was getting bombed too as Jane and Shadow were being chased by clouds of fire, forcing them into the alleyway they were running to. The ferocity and loudness of the explosions put a fearful face on Shadow.

The alleyway was not complete cover, as rocks and bricks were falling from above, meaning that the houses were getting bombed too. Regardless, the pokémon that seemed to bottleneck the alleys were still shoving through violently. Some were taking cover, hoping not to be hit by any of the Draco Meteors or avalanche of bricks, some however already were and were just left lying faced down. Jane and Shadow continued to storm north, tailing the crowds of pokémon desperate to escape, when suddenly a massive beedrill zoomed passed the crowd, followed by a salamence, who slowed and looked upward as soon as he passed the crowd. The infernape just behind Shadow could see the giant blue dragon ahead of them had his eyes glowing and knew what was about to happen. She snatched the houndoom, tightly pulling him back as they both fell down for stopping too fast. Immediately afterwards, the alleyway in front of them seemed to explode, blowing them back as if Whirlwind was used, while the buildings that they were between came down like fatal rock slides.

Shadow looked up, horrified to see the massive pile of blood and rubble in the distance, where it was screaming with pokémon, to suddenly being quiet enough to only hear the sirens. 'Oh my god!' he shouted.

Jane meanwhile remained more alert, noticing that the buildings they were currently between had been affected too and began to crumble violently. She swiftly got back up and pulled the houndoom up like some kid. 'We have to go, now!' she said, turning round and taking a right turn down a quieter alley that was already demolished from the raid.

It seemed the Dragon Raid had finished its attack over where Shadow and Jane were running, making the infernape want to get out onto the streets to find her friends, passing another alleyway heading north as she ran. The houndoom meanwhile stopped, peering down that alley and called out for Jane to stop, who looked back to see Shadow run down the alley she passed. Down there appeared to be a family of pokémon taking shelter over something covered in rubble. Jane did not recognise it as quickly as Shadow could, but she realised the junky shelter was actually Ben, shaking off the rubble as the houndoom approached.

'Are you guys alright?' asked Shadow, dusting off the fragments and rocks from the garbodor.

'Ben!' called Jane running over.

The giant trash heap pokémon grunted in pain, only uttering the word 'ouch' but then asking if the little pokémon who were huddled up with him were okay. It seemed though that he and Meg got lucky and that the children were unharmed. They paused for a moment, hoping that the Dragon Raid had ended, even with sirens still blaring.

'Jane…' huffed Ben happily, twitching in pain. 'But where's… where's Sergeant?'

'Right here.' answered the magnezone, floating from the alley Shadow and Jane had come from. It slammed onto the hard filthy floor next to Jane, who crouched down, placing her hand over it. 'We should be safe now. The main focus of the attack was to cease the outbreak of the prison.'

Jane interjected angrily. 'Yet another Dragon Raid! How many dead? God knows.'

For the next several minutes, the crew remained still. On the lookout for any more attacks or survivors, holding each other close, whlie Jane, Ben and Shadow taking the roles of bodyguards.

* * *

The old war sirens finally silenced in Hydrangea City, which had rapidly become a clouded ghost city filled with dead bodies, rubble, blood and eerie silence. It was not the first Dragon Raid the city had experienced, or even the biggest, but due to riots that were active, the death toll was far greater than the previous attacks.

On the other side of the long row of houses, Jane emerged from an alleyway, hyper vigilant, on the lookout for any dangers, active vehicles, insectoid or dragons soaring well above. However, all she saw were small groups of pokémon here and there, at random locations, in the middle of the road or sheltering under whatever housing they could find. There was a lot of crying and the sounds of struggling as civilians or even prison guards were trying to help out pokémon who were hit by the raid or were buried alive. As with any Dragon Raid aftermath, the sight was horrifying. Bodies everywhere, creepy evidence of belongings, blood under rubble, pokémon crying while tightly holding siblings. Children who lost their parents and parents who lost their children. It happened every time.

The infernape was serious, but when she looked back, she could not help but seem a little miserable. 'It's safe.' she called, tilting her head.

Shadow came out next, followed by Meg and Clara, looking around cautiously, whose faces became depressed ones when spotting the same carnage. When the bayleef passed Jane, somewhat curious of people's situation, Ben stumbled out, carrying the children on his shoulders or on his makeshift hand. His mood was only sad and more occupied with comforting the children. Finally, Sergeant hovered out, flying over Ben and only descended next to Jane, trying to ignore the devastation.

'This is not going to end on its own.' mumbled the magnezone.

'Until one of the leaders fall.' answered Jane, resulting with Ben, Shadow, Meg and Clara to stare at her. 'We want this to stop? Well it ain't stopping until someone's head is ripped off in Haine.'

'And by "someone",' replied Sergeant. 'You do mean president Nicolai, right?'

'I don't care, either one will stop when the other is dead.'

'Not if Rancour falls, Jane. He may have started the uprising, but someone will always take his place.'

'Even if that does happen… I could still use his corpse for a little quality time with our fucking snorlax president, so then I can rip his head off too! Everyone's problem solved!'

'What am I talking too here?'

'Jane…' interjected Meg, seemingly worried for her.

'Your methods,' continued Sergeant. 'Are not to resolve peace for Crio, or to overthrow the broken, anti-democratic Republic. You just want them all dead.'

The infernape took one step closer to the magnezone, pointing at her one working eye. 'And can you blame me? Perhaps my husband can tell you the list of shit,' she said, hitting Sergeant away slightly. 'I went through because of it all.'

'Jane!' Ben interrupted, letting Jenny and Cecily down, who hid behind him.

'Oh wait, I forgot, my husband's dead… and my baby.'

After she said that, everyone stared in silence. Jane stood straight and turned right, unable to keep still after saying what she just said. Her only eye twitched and arms tensed furiously, but Shadow just next to her could see what she was actually doing. From his angle, the houndoom could see the twitching in Jane's eye and secret clenching of her teeth, showing her desperate fight to not tear up. Rather quickly though, her breathing slowed as she regained her calm and looked back at the content magnezone.

'My fight, is at Haine, which is where I'm going.'

Sergeant interjected. 'It is ours too, infernape. You don't have to-'

'No.' interrupted Clara. 'I'm not… I'm not going.'

'Clara?' asked Meg.

The bellossom began walking backward, shaking her head. 'I can't… I don't care about Haine, I'm still desperate to know if my family survived the Iris raid!'

'Then you go home.' replied Jane. 'You going with her?' asking the bayleef.

Meg flustered, having to make an important decision. 'Uh- I… I want to think about it.'

'Wait,' said Ben, turning round to the three children, before looking back at Clara. 'Do you think you could take these three with you?'

The fennekin, bergmite and yanma all stared at the bellossom, all with frail, innocent eyes. Clearly still shaken out, but warmed up to the idea of having a home to go to. Though Jenny and Myer were not even from Iris.

'Yes of course, I mean… I'll do my best-'

'Shadow?' asked Jane, which the houndoom just glanced at her, seeming surprised. 'Are you coming?'

'I told you, I'm going to find Glim!'

Ben, Meg and Clara glanced at the houndoom in shock. 'You mean… the glaceon?' asked Meg. 'Is he even still alive?'

'Yes.' answered Sergeant. 'If you remember there was an escape a few days ago.'

'That's right,' said Shadow, approaching the weakened magnezone. 'You also said you helped him somewhere, Camellias was it?'

'Correct, though he could be anywhere by now.'

'Once I pick up his scent again, I will find him. I need him and for all we know, he needs us too.'

'Sorry Shadow.' replied Jane, shaking her head. 'But you're on your own.'

The houndoom looked back at the infernape, not disappointed or sad, not after what she said about her experiences. Instead Shadow just nodded.

'That's fine Jane. I can find him by myself.'

Meanwhile, it seemed that the bayleef and bellossom girls were whispering to one another. Ben took notice of their quiet discussion when it seemed to be getting a little serious, with Clara having tears in her eyes and hitting the much bigger dinosaur in front of her, barely nudging her. They then hugged and Meg kissed the bellossom on her head.

'Is something wrong?' asked the garbodor.

The bayleef left the little flowery pokémon. 'I'm coming with you.' she said to Jane.

Seeing Clara cry, made Ben signal for the children to go to her, as she perhaps needed them as they needed her. In one pat, Myer flew and Jenny waddled to hug the weeping bellossom. However, Cecily remained looking up at the giant friendly garbodor, like she wanted him to come too. Recognising that look, Ben compressed his body down to seem on eye level with the little fennekin.

'Listen, darling.' he whispered. 'You're not the first children I've saved, but if I don't go to Haine, many more will die. Understand?' tiny Cecily nodded, eyes closed. Ben then stroked her furry cheek, with his softer hand. 'I'm sorry about daddy, but if he was here now. He would want you safe and looked after, okay?' again the fennekin nodded, her lips trembled violently as her tightly closed eyes leaked. Clara approached Cecily and held her close when Ben drew his hand away.

* * *

'And just like that?' asked Glim. 'You all split up?'

'I'm afraid so.' replied Shadow. 'Jane, Ben, Sergeant and that bayleef were going to head for Haine, but by crossing lakes Azelf and Mesprit to get there.'

'Are you serious?' interjected Karli. 'Those lakes are guarded to hell.'

'At the state boarders yes, but they said about crossing at the more unprotected areas at dark. People have been doing that well before the revolution even started.'

'I still can't believe that Meg and Clara were still alive.' said Glim. 'They helped me on the island.'

'Yeah you said. Which also answers why they knew you.'

'But… is that all Jane and Ben said? How come they didn't come to Camellias first, or to even reunite with me?'

'Well… if you really want to know, Glim. Jane thought you came to Camellias to escape the revolution. And she asked, if I found you… to persuade you to stay. Since you would be safer in Camellias.'

The glaceon paused. 'She did?'

'Hey,' blurted Angel. 'A little late now, right? At least you know your friends are alive.'

Glim paused again, before actually raising a smile. 'Yeah… and we're heading for the same place.'

'Haine is huge but...' said Shadow. 'We'll find'em.'


	13. Responsibility dilemma

Chapter 13  
'Responsibility dilemma'

* * *

It took a minute of aimless staring for Glim to recognise the three children before him. A snubble, spheal and a horsea, who were playing around in a paddling pool. It seemed that the snubble was learning to become a mermaid, while the friendly spheal was teaching her to swim. The horsea meanwhile, was just idly splashing as much as he wanted, when suddenly their roleplaying was interrupted by a magikarp, impacting into the water from above and splashing water well over the inflated ring wall. Seeing the water hail down confused Glim, who took some steps back, which he then noticed his paws and thick scarf. He was surprised to become an eevee again somehow, too dazed to figure out what was happening.

'So it is you.' said a creepy voice, causing Glim to glance round to see Martyr, in its horrific human form. It paused as the little eevee only froze up and cowered down. 'Strange… how is it we remember you, yet do not?'

Glim was paralysed, staring up into to the dead black eyes of the human before him, who suddenly flickered away, like it was never there.

'Excuse me.' greeted Ellie, patting Glim from behind and making him jump in fear. He then turned to see the friendly kirlia who also seemed a little surprised. 'So sorry to frighten you Glim. Are you okay?'

Instead of answering, Glim looked left to right, evidently frightened and looking out for Martyr. Little Ellie recognised the fear and smiled, kneeling in front of the eevee and stroked his cheek. Glim did recognise the kirlia, just by the way he smiled, his hair being a little longer on the back and the more joyous shape of his eyes, making him look friendlier than Karli.

Glim stuttered. 'Uh- h-hi.' trying to remember the kirlia's name.

'Did mummy leave you all alone again?'

'She told me to stay here.'

'And you look like you were shot and left for dead, with no friends.' he replied sorrowfully, reaching down to take Glim's paw. 'If you're moving in this time, mummy's not going to be around for a while. Why not come in?' playfully, the kirlia began pulling the little eevee toward the open doors of the large conservatory. 'It is quite sad to see you all alone, looking sad.'

Inside, a long wooden table stretched all across the conservatory. It was very low down, clearly designed for children or smaller pokémon. Instead of chairs, the children had cushions and many were sat at the table, happily chatting about past experiences or what they wanted to be when they grew up. Among them, closer to the door was Rachel the pansear and another eevee. Memories began to flood as Glim remembered the pansear who appeared happy to see the eevee, other than the one she was sat next to. The eevee next to Rachel remained silent and had a timid expression, though his eyes glinted a little curiosity for Glim. Surely it was nice to see another of the same specie most pokémon would think, that is unless the individual suffered from bullying or violence from their own specie.

'Hi Glim!' called Rachel, even though Glim and Ellie were only inches from the table. 'We were just having tea, please join us.'

The kirlia next to Glim sat first, who patted the neighbouring cushion, beckoning for Glim to sit next to him. The eevee sat, just as shy as the eevee on the other side. Most of the children only took one look at little Glim, then happily resumed their own conversations. Looking back to the gentle pansear, Glim noticed Ellie levitating a teacup and a teapot all in his psychic powers. Looking like it was nothing, the kirlia placed the untouched teapot down, without making a sound, while the teacup was given to the little paws of the eevee guest.

He looked down into the very girly, flowery teacup, noticing the tea to be a much lighter brown than what he has seen before. 'I've- I've, never had tea before.' said Glim, sheepishly.

'You've never had tea before?' asked Ellie, a little surprised.

'Well… I always thought it was a mummy drink.'

The kirlia giggled, looking at Rachel who shared a similar expression of affection for Glim's innocence.

'Try it.' replied Rachel. 'It would be sad to leave you out, like you were just now.' she said, pointing at the opened door behind Glim and Ellie.

The little eevee felt a strange flattering feeling, not something he was used to, even though it made him happier inside, he did not know how to respond. However, Glim knew that the kind kirlia and pansear were trying to be nice, so he would only oblige. He dipped one claw into the tea, which was not too hot and gave it a lick, before he took a sip.

'You've come here before haven't you Glim?' said Ellie. 'Do you remember?'

'Yeah.' Glim nodded, placing the teacup down, but then paused. Ellie just next to him recognised the pause, like he was trying to remember or was keeping quiet about why he was there that time. 'Does- does mummy hurt you, Glim?'

Again, the little eevee remained quiet, but in answering the kirlia, he nodded, slowly looking over to him. His long pause, the increased speed of his breathing, trembling of his lips and slow flooding of his eyes immediately told Ellie and Rachel of some very real suffering. As soon as Glim looked to Ellie with that expression, the kirlia and the pansear both sympathised and approached to comfort the little eevee. Rachel had to walk around the end of the table, before she could join in the hugging that Ellie had already started. By that time, the other eevee present had disappeared.

'It'll be alright.' said Ellie, caressing frail Glim, who was trying desperately hard to not cry.

'Yeah, let it out Glim.' said Rachel, stroking the eevee.

Glim barely managed to keep his threshold, as a tear slowly slipped down his face.

'I don't want to go home.' croaked the eevee, voice barely recognisable.

The kirlia and pansear held their embrace for a little longer, giving each other the same concerned expression. Until a human boy walked in from the corner door, from the main landing. Vindicta that day was not in his usual country outfit, but appeared to be wearing a smarter outfit while holding an umbrella. His friendly face was astonishing to see, knowing he was the possible leader of Martyr. However, the look in his eyes as he spotted Glim had nothing but troubling news.

'Glim.' he said approaching, Ellie and Rachel let go upon spotting the human entering. They too became worried when they saw the look on his face. 'I'm sorry, but-'

'Glim!' screamed Sharon, from outside. Both Ellie and Rachel gasped and they glanced at the voice, echoing from the open doors. 'You had me looking in the rain for you!'

The little eevee did not even see his sylveon mother before he was suddenly yanked back, by a ribbon forcefully tugging his collar fur. He did not remember it hurting, but was instead scared by the very voice and could only see everything moving so quickly.

'Wait stop!' screamed Rachel.

'Mrs Fleece!' stuttered Vindicta.

It seemed everything was violently moving in Glim's eyes, before flashing brightly, which he thought was the sky at first. Everything then turned black.

'What a fate,' whispered Ellie. 'We wanted to save you Glim, from her, yet it was your mother who saved you. But was it better that way?'

* * *

At the brisk of dawn, the eyes of the pretty glaceon fluttered open. Only remembering what he was just dreaming about. He laid still, on his side, piecing together what he was dreaming about. It was mostly a distant memory, many years ago, but also a mental intrusion, after seeing Martyr in it as well. Why would it be interested to know of Glim's memories?

It was still quite dark, comfortably cold for the glaceon, relaxed deeply by the sounds of the quietly lapping waves as the vessel gently rocked. The weather-proofed sheet used to shield the cargo was thin enough to let the late morning light to protrude. Annoyingly, Glim was no longer tired and by the looks of it, everyone was asleep. Karli was in the small space opposite Glim, with her back to him and tucked up in a thick blanket. Further down was Angel, just sitting in silence, with his head down, whether or not he was sleeping or just thinking deeply seemed unclear to the glaceon. At the back was the quiet cranidos, completely hidden in her blanket.

Glim had forgotten that he was sleeping with Shadow, as he wondered why he could not see him or Beryl. He was about to roll to his left, when he finally noticed the slender black paw holding him around the torso. The glaceon then quickly glanced back, to see the very warm houndoom, who was also awake. Glim clearly seemed tired to the dark hound pokémon who nuzzled him.

'You alright love?' whispered Shadow. Glim seemed confused, a little fidgety in his drowsiness. 'No one's really sleeping, Glim. Just trying to keep warm if anything.'

'Why's it so quiet?' whispered Glim. 'I mean…' the glaceon looked back to see the others in their silence. 'Did I fall asleep early or something? Why is everybody so quiet?'

'Well, remember. Your friends are still a little shaken out from that attack. But also, I think those two…' he said, nodding at Karli and Angel. 'They're a little frosty with each other. And him…' looking at Beryl was on the other side of the houndoom, still needing to share his heat. 'He has a similar problem for the little one down there.' he said, referring to Terri, who was out of his sight.

Glim paused, looking at his friends, before looking back at Shadow. 'Would I be okay to- to talk to them?'

'Yeah, I would-' he replied, rolling over to whisper to the curled up braixen. 'Would you be okay if we left for a moment, Beryl?

The braixen boy, not even looking back replied with just a nod. Shadow looked back to Glim, who looked worried for Beryl, but the houndoom felt that the braixen may like some space. The glaceon however wanted to ask, but as Shadow was leaving the blanket all to Beryl, he sorrowfully shook his head, telling his boyfriend to not talk to him just yet. Beryl buried his head, including his long fox ears into the blanket he tightly wrapped himself in. He looked so sad, unwell and loneliness was the last thing Glim wanted for the braixen, but given what happened a few hours ago, it could also be what Beryl wanted at that moment.

Whether or not Beryl was crying, Shadow and Glim decided to quietly leave him be. The glaceon felt the need to tip toe, as if everyone was sleeping, due to the silence, though the houndoom already told it was quite the other way round. Glim wanted to talk to his friends, to know what was on their minds, how they were coping and whether or not he should tell them more about Martyr. On one paw, he did not want to tell them anything about that monster, after what it had already done and of all the insane paranormal experiences Glim had been encountering, which in turn may cause them to be more afraid. At the same time, he could not help the crawling feeling of a brick, sliding up his torso, guilty that he may be dragging his friends into horrific attacks from Martyr, as it was actually him it was after. Because of him, so many have died, just by witnessing the attack back in Iris. Even though he knew nothing about Martyr and was only trying to survive, it was getting to him. Just remembering Boris' death, or when the second remnant destroyed most of the vessel to Camellias, then there was Mercury and Austin, it hurt to think he was responsible for it all.

Glim wanted to speak to Karli first, for being the closest, but also having fought Martyr before. Maybe it was after her too for surviving, but Martyr had only attacked the ship because Glim was there he thought. The little glaceon, trailed by his houndoom crept over to the kirlia who appeared very fast asleep.

'Karli?' whispered the glaceon, standing on his hind legs to reach the risen space, where the kirlia was resting.

'Yeah?' she replied whispering, rolling over to meet the glaceon's eyes. It was obvious to Glim that Karli was not tired at all. 'Are you alright, Glim?'

'Yes, yes… I just… wanted to know if you're alright.' he paused, staring into her massive, passionate amber orange eyes, which stared back and gave Shadow just behind the glaceon a glance.

'This is about when Martyr attacked, right?' she asked and Glim nodded. 'I'm… I'm alright, yeah. Angel and I came into the fight a little late, if you remember?'

'Barely.'

'Well… you already told me about Martyr. Only this time, we saw that human you said about.'

'Yeah. That guy is way worse than any of the monsters that come with it.'

'Was he the leader?' asked Shadow.

Both Karli and Glim shook their heads, answering in unison. 'We don't know.'

'Why was it attacking us anyway?' asked Karli. Glim paused, looking fearful. 'We're in the middle of nowhere and… could it be with the Republic, like some secret weapon?' Shadow glanced at the little glaceon. 'That explains why it attacked the ship we were on, a few days ago. And… and maybe the other times, like just now, it was targeting vital allies of the Crimson.' she said, nodding in the direction of Captain Ariel.

'You think they know about this?' asked the houndoom.

'I don't know, but this Martyr organization, whatever it is, is dangerous.'

Glim kept quiet, somewhat relieved that Karli drew a conclusion like that. To an extent, it made sense, what if Martyr are actually members of the Republic? Most of that party are controlled by unfeeling, violent monsters who care more about getting richer and powerful at the expense of the poor and equality. However, one line immediately echoed in the glaceon's mind.

'We shall meet again glaceon.' hissed Martyr, making Glim feel targeted and unforgotten, which made his ears drop slowly.

'What about you and Angel?' asked Shadow, breaking Glim from his worrying train of thought.

The kirlia leaned forward, seeing the half-asleep weavile just sitting with his face silhouetted and looking really depressed. 'I think he's still a little spun out, about the whole Martyr event.' she said and Shadow nodded. 'Could you talk to him, Glim? You may not have heard it, but we got into quite an argument before you woke.'

Glim answered 'yeah, I was hearing some of it.'

Karli nodded. 'He deserves to know, after helping us so much.'

'Did he?' asked Shadow, glancing at Angel.

Both the glaceon and kirlia replied with a 'yes', before Karli said 'remember, he was the one who got Glim and Beryl out of that prison.'

'Oh yeah.' replied Shadow, shaking his head flustered.

'It hadn't been easy for him though.' said Glim.

'No?'

Glim shook his head sadly. 'First time I met him, he was carefree, good with words and mischievous. He was getting me into that nightclub, that- that we met in.' he said glancing up at his houndoom. 'But since then… he's been dragged into shit again and again. Getting himself pummelled, Belle, getting blown up with us, helping me fight a family of murderers. He- he's been good to us.'

Both Shadow and Karli shared sad expressions.

'Just…' Karli paused. 'Tread lightly, if you're going to talk about Belle, okay?'

The little glaceon only nodded, before turning to face the lonesome weavile, still sitting in place and just contemplating. He crept silently, nervous to break the silence. Glim even considered carrying on and talking to Terri instead. Thankfully however, Shadow caught a glimpse of his shyness and moved slightly ahead for his glaceon. He passed with a smile, adoring Glim's nervousness.

'Angel?' whispered Shadow. 'You okay, mate?'

The weavile only looked up, inhaling deeply, like he just woke up. The houndoom was giving him space by not being in front of him, but from where he and Glim stood, it looked like that Angel was daydreaming.

'I was hearing you and Karli talking.' he said and Shadow became a little flustered. However, the intimidating presence appeared to be directed at Glim, Angel slowly turned to look him in the eye. 'Something tells me you already know, about that thing.'

The rising sense of hostility, made Shadow step in front of his boyfriend with a suspensive expression. 'Whoa, easy.' but the weavile and glaceon kept each other's gaze.

'Glim, whatever that was, it was not controlled by the Republic. I bet my ass on that. There is no way in hell, the Republic could nor would tame something like that. Yo, psychic types can hit like bombs, especially when they're that pissed.'

'A psychic type?' replied Shadow. 'It looked very water type to me.'

'That was just its form though. Whatever it was, it was still partly unown.' Glim's eyes turned smaller, remembering how often he saw the unown with any form of Martyr. 'And when Glim used his attack, it was screwin with its concentration bad.' Angel said, poking at his head before glancing at the glaceon. 'What was that you used?'

'I-it's called Signal Beam.' replied Glim. 'I don't know what type-'

'It's a bug attack.' interrupted Shadow. 'S-somehow, I'm not sure why.'

Glim's eyes shortened, remembering that the nearby unown would scream violently whenever the Martyr creatures were hit by his attack.

'What was that Glim?' asked Angel. 'Karli called it "Martyr"... is that an organization?'

'That's its name,' nodded Glim. 'And they speak of themselves as "we", so I'm guessing so.'

The weavile paused, just staring at the depressive, yet confused glaceon. His own expression showed wariness, a sense of mistrust, like he knew Glim was not saying something. Angel looked back down.

'In your own time, Glim.' he said, the glaceon paused, a little uneasy about that last statement.

'Um, Angel?' interjected Shadow. 'Just wanted to say thanks, by the way.' Angel's eyes met those of the friendly houndoom, somewhat curious. 'While I was gone, you were around to help Glim and his friends is all.'

The dark sharp claw pokémon exhaled, like he was chuckling. 'Yeah, well… it's what I get for being such a sweetheart.' finished Angel, going back to his attempts of sleeping.

Shadow seemed concerned, unsure what to say to what Angel said. It was like the weavile was regretting to help his friends. The houndoom looked to his little glaceon sat next to him and then just nodded away, it was clear that Angel wanted to be alone.

The boat seemed a little longer in the dark as it was several metres Shadow and Glim had to walk to reach the little cranidos, huddled up in the back and all alone. She was facing the wooden walls and all wrapped up in her blanket, just like Karli on the other end. The glaceon crept closer, just able to see the enormous blue crown that cranidos were famous for, which was sticking out.

'Hello?' whispered Glim, instantly causing the little cranidos to shuffle away, sitting up and stare back in fright. 'S-sorry, I didn't mean to-'

'I-it's alright.' replied Terri. 'I just didn't… um.' she stuttered, attempting to wipe her eyes with her tiny arms, though she had to duck down to do so. Seeing that made Glim tilt his head, looking sorrowful.

'Hey, were you crying?'

'No! I was sleeping, that was bits in my eyes.'

The way she said that made Glim sceptical inside, but understanding of her desire to remain brave.

'It was Terri, wasn't it?' he asked and the cranidos nodded. 'We just wanted to know if you're doing okay. You know… after the attack.'

Terri paused, what bravery was in her eyes had sunk. 'I… honestly don't know what's going on. I don't know what that monster was, I've never heard of a "Martyr" before.' she paused again and Glim kept quiet. 'Whenever something was wrong, Austin was always there to pull me out, or explain things to me.'

'Were you two best friends?'

'It's… kinda complicated. You see, he use to bully me, when we were at school and we lived in the same street too. But… when Hydrangea was Dragon Raided, the first time, I was left helpless in my flat which was set on fire from the meteors. And then, out of nowhere, Austin and his dad burst in and saved me, like I was family to them.'

'What?' puzzled Glim. 'Why did he do that?'

'I don't know, but he said I was his friend. His dad knew my mum and dad too.'

Glim looked down, still confused about Austin having bullied Terri, yet regarded her as a friend and rescued her. Perhaps the situation that was happening forced a change of heart for him.

'I'm guessing you got onto the escape vessels to Camellias, like we did.'

The cranidos nodded. 'Yeah, me, his parents and one of their friends. They were just so caring for me.'

'Of course they were sweetheart,' interjected Shadow. 'That city was practically blown up and you lost your parents. I've heard of stories where even criminals become saviours at times like this. Crio is under revolution, sweet.'

'I know, and that's what made us separate!' she cried.

'Wait, what?' replied Glim, while Shadow put a claw over his mouth, trying to tell Terri to quiet down.

Terri's voice began to crack as tears slowly broke through her threshold. 'Days after we escaped Hydrangea, Austin's parents got into a fight. His father and his friend left for Haine, while his mummy made us stay, but Austin wanted to go anyway.' her cries could be heard throughout the cargo, but while Angel tried to ignore it, Karli meanwhile could not help but listen, affected by Terri's story.

'Did he want to help his father?' asked Shadow.

'He did… and we sneaked out last night to join this extraction.'

'You mean you ran away?'

'Well…' she stuttered, breaking into tears. 'I didn't w-want him to go.'

Glim approached and held the little cranidos by her shoulders as she breathed deeply and wiped her tears.

'If… this is all too much.' whispered Shadow. 'I'm sure you could stay on the boat and the captain could sail you back to Camellias.'

'I don't want to go back.' replied Terri, regaining her stability. 'What would I say to his mother? To see me come back all alone? Especially knowing how he died.' she said, her voice cracking again and mouth trembling.

The glaceon remained quiet, remembering the last time he saw the graveler, though it seemed the story appeared worse, judging by the pain Terri was in.

'Wait, what happened?'

The cranidos paused and looked to the front-left corner of the area, where Beryl was resting, though she could not see him. 'Just ask him.' she said, sadly.

The houndoom looked over to the same spot. 'Beryl? Was he… responsible or something?'

'No… but, he's so sad about what happened. Could you tell him I forgive him, please?'

Shadow seemed confused. 'Can't you tell him yourself?'

Terri slowly shook her head. 'He… just doesn't want to talk to me. Like he thinks I'm upset because of him.'

Glim and Shadow glanced at each other, with a promising look in their eyes. The little glaceon, comforting the cranidos, nodded to the houndoom and released Terri.

'Don't you worry, sweetheart, we'll talk to him.' Shadow said, winking.

'Thank you.'

It seemed like that every ally who was present on the ship was infected with some dark stigma. The more of them the houndoom and glaceon spoke to, the darker the area got. When Glim and Shadow came back to the braixen, he was still facing away, hidden in the darkness. He was not shivering in cold anymore and it was difficult to tell if he was sleeping or not.

'Beryl?' whispered Glim, creeping closer. Beryl did not answer, but his eyes opened, which the glaceon could not see. 'H-how are you doing? Feeling any better?'

The braixen paused, before slowly nodding. His silence encouraged for Glim to talk less, like he was either really tired or ignoring him. The glaceon looked back at Shadow, who drew closer, standing next to him.

'Beryl?' whispered Shadow. 'I forgot to tell you, thanks for what you did back there.' Glim looked up at the houndoom again, and kept his curious expression. Beryl also seemed curious, not that he was showing it. Shadow looked at his little boyfriend, seeing the question in his eyes. 'I don't think you were awake at the time Glim, but when I found you, I was still really far from you and you were about to be killed by that human-Martyr thing. Did you see that?'

Glim nodded, vaguely remembering when he was fiercely fighting the walrein-granbull-kingdra hybrid, the human appeared right next to him, ready to decapitate the defenceless glaceon. 'That's when you fired that flamethrower, wasn't it?'

The houndoom shook his head. 'That wasn't me.' he replied, looking back at the braixen before him.

They paused, then Beryl finally moved, rolling slowly onto his back and turning his head to face the boys, who were just on the edge of the cushioned platform the braixen laid on. He had a miserable look and instead of saying anything, he just paused.

'That- that was you Beryl?' asked Glim and Beryl nodded. 'That was… amazing. You blew that thing completely gone, from what I was seeing.'

'I…' the braixen quietly stuttered. 'I don't know how I did that.' Beryl looked back, picking up the unique azure wand he used and held it between them. 'You think it was the wand I was given?'

'That doesn't look like a wand most braixen use.' said Shadow.

'There are- there are different kinds that we and delphox can use, but… even I have never seen one like this.'

'Where'd you get that, anyway?'

'It was given to him,' answered Glim. 'When we were being freed from that prison. An alakazam had it.'

For a moment, they pondered, all staring at the artistic wand. Strange to see the branch a navy blue, complementing the blue handle, which looked crafted, while the branch tip remained as curved and unique as any other branch.

'However you did it Beryl,' said Shadow. 'You saved him.'

Eerily, the braixen's saddened eyes went from gazing at the wand and meeting Shadow's, which made his usually charming eyes suddenly turn aggressive. The houndoom knew he hit a nerve, seeing that look.

'Is this supposed to make me feel better about Austin?' he whispered so seriously. 'I couldn't save him, alright?'

'Beryl.' Shadow replied, cautiously. 'We're not trying to upset you either, but… could you tell us what happened? Terri doesn't want to tell us and she is still a little broken about all this. She's not just lost Austin, but she's all alone now. And Beryl… she's not mad at you, in fact she told us to say that she forgives you.' Glim nodded and Beryl tensed up, looking down again. 'So please, tell us what happened Beryl.'

The braixen paused for a moment, then he slammed his wand back on his blanket, before taking a deep sigh. 'I could have saved him… but… I was so scared and in so much pain, I couldn't think.'

'Was this when that monster dragged you into the water?' asked Glim, and Beryl nodded coldly. 'I don't know how long it was, but… I thought you were dead when I saw that.'

The braixen glanced at the houndoom. 'This was when we were reuniting after an avalanche. I ran ahead to meet up with Mercury and Austin, which was when that thing flew out of the ice and dived into us. Mercury and I barely had any time to move, and this was on ice too, so we were hit so hard, I blacked out for a moment. I totally do not remember being forced so far down into that freezing water. But… when I came to, I remember that unbearable freezing I felt. It felt like millions of sneasel cutting my flesh, all over me, it hurt, like shit. I was in agony, only realising I was in the water. In my desperation I looked up after finding where up was in the water, and I could see Mercury in some stranglehold with that monster, I-I couldn't see very well. But I did see that thing fully dive into the water, while Mercury swam back, still fighting it. I was so deep in that water and tried to swim for that opening they were swimming from, but that's when I noticed something, struggling crazily. I thought it was a block of ice… but it was Austin. I had forgotten that most rock pokémon could not swim, I could not recognise him, I was in too much pain to think. I ended up crashing into him, which almost knocked me out, while his weight was forcing me down with him. He was madly struggling to swim… I could feel him vibrating so violently, but the water was agony to be in and it was hurting the deeper we went. So I just ignored him and tried my hardest to push him away and swim back up and as I managed to pass him, h-he grabbed my leg…' he paused as his voice began to crack. 'Desperate to get out of there, to get out of the cold, to breathe… I drew my wand out… and without thinking, I shot him… his arm broke off, leaving him to sink. Only afterward, do I realise that I could have saved the both of us, had I…'

Beryl paused again, leaving Glim and Shadow to stare in worry. The braixen instead broke, letting the tears slide down, though he resisted crying. The glaceon decided to climb onto the platform and embrace the braixen, who did not hug back.

'I can't…' stuttered Beryl. 'I can't unsee that face he had, when I shot him. He was screaming, r-reaching out for me and sinking… until I couldn't see him.' he said, triggering him to bawl and tightly hug the glaceon.

'Hey, hey…' whispered Shadow, approaching with a sympathetic atmosphere. 'There wasn't, anything you could have done, especially not like that. I mean, did you know Psychic or Telekinesis?' Beryl in Glim's embrace barely shook his head, so miserably. 'If you didn't escape, you both would have died. You're lucky you got out of there.'

'Yeah,' said Glim. 'You were down there longer than me or Mercury. When you scrambled out, you were steaming.'

Beryl said nothing, just holding Glim, remembering the previous times he had held onto the little icy glaceon. It was comforting, yet uncomfortable in contrasting natural temperatures whenever they hugged, but it calmed the braixen down.

When Glim eventually let him go, the braixen wanted to be alone for a little while longer and the two boys accommodated his request, since there was one last person to talk to. To get to the front, Shadow and Glim had to climb on a makeshift staircase and squeeze through the cargo cover, which proved to be a lot sturdier than the glaceon had thought.

The captain, Ariel, was tugging the vessel so calmly through the windless sea. Sailing into a white zone of thick fog, the glaceon breathed in the calming scent of morning dew, mixed with sea salt. Hearing the waves, even at the front was only relaxing. Most of the lapras who was tugging the vessel was underwater, so her fins did not hit the hull for being so close, due to short tow ropes. She had heard Glim, followed by Shadow, peeking through the covers, except she was not sure if it was them and rather focused on what was ahead. Just between the captain and the vessel was one of many tow extensions, a short bow to give Ariel something to hook the ropes onto. Glim crawled out of the cargo and stepped onto the small bow with ease, for being so slender and small. The houndoom behind him, though he was also slender, his size and horns were giving him troubling in stepping out. Ignoring Shadow, the glaceon sat on the very edge of the bow.

'Captain?' asked Glim, no longer needing to whisper, but had forgotten her name.

'Good morning.' she replied coarsely, secretly forgetting his too.

'Um…' Glim paused, suddenly intimidated by the scarred face of Ariel, who looked back at him. 'I uh… wanted to ask, how you're doing.'

'Wasn't part of that fight, sweetheart. I should be asking you.'

'O-oh, yeah.'

Shadow finally fell out from the tight gap, crashing on his back.

'Well?' Ariel continued.

'Huh?'

'How're you doing?'

Glim paused, looking back, passed Shadow and thought about his friends. 'It's seems everyone is… well, down about that attack in their own ways.'

'I'm not surprised, I heard Mercury was killed.'

'You knew him?'

'Of course I did. Who do you think I met every time I came round that route?' Glim kept quiet, as Shadow approached and sat with him. 'So what was that thing, you were attacked by? I'm hearing you guys calling it "Martyr".'

'It's… a long story.'

'And am I to be looking out for it?'

'It seems to only be after us. As far as I know.'

Captain Ariel paused, looking vigilantly. 'Alright… but do your friends know about this thing?'

'Some of them, yeah… but, I don't exactly know what it is either. I don't suppose you do, do you captain?'

The lapras shook her head. 'fraid not.'

Glim looked down and nodded, figuring she had not known, but then his ears twitched as another question sprung to mind. 'What about Rancour?'

Ariel that time nodded. 'Commander Rancour was an ally of mine back when Crio was facing the XENOS uprising, the Tragoria war and the many rescues from the Titan Enforcement. With him in charge, we won every single battle with only few fatalities, bisharp have such insane senses of strategy. That is of course until we retired, but now… it seems we're needed more than ever.'

'So were you two friends?'

'We certainly knew each other, I'll say that, but he's rather cold and forward. Very serious.'

'Then do you know where we can find him?' asked Shadow.

Ariel chuckled. 'Haine, that's really all I can tell you. He's probably got some base of operations, but he's too smart to take that shelter. Knowing him, he probably hides out in somewhere more confined, only known by his best comrades. Hell, he wouldn't trust me with information like that, and I'm here helping the cause.'

The glaceon and houndoom looked at each other and just paused, having heard the terribly vague answer of Rancour's whereabouts before. The capital was bigger than the island they were sailing from and had four levels of ground so to speak. There was the ground floor itself as all land locations have, an underground level, generally for subways and shelters. A risen level, much like a giant plate that covered a third of the city and finally, a level that was known as the 'Storm Walk', a massive armada of ships that stay no higher than a thousand feet above the city entirely. The Storm Walk was said to house a hive of Dragon Raid armies, in every airship, and there were more than ten of them.

Being made aware of how dangerous Haine was, made it all the more haunting as that was where Glim and his friends were destined to go. The Crimson Revolution Commander could be anywhere, on any of those spoken levels below the Storm Walk and that fact was the same for the prime minister of Crio. To think Jane was going after either one of them sounded like an impossible destiny.

* * *

Just over an hour later, land became visible through the thick fog, as the lapras had reached Lumineon Point, where the land that makes the right edge of the V channel curves sharply, becoming a regional coastline. It took a moment for Ariel to dock next to the shoreline that met the water, because she had to be a close as she could be, without wrecking the hull behind her. When she did, she made the call for everyone to leave the boat, because the lapras had no plans in staying. However, it only took a minute for everyone to leave the cargo and landing on the shallow freezing water. Beryl had the luxury of jumping onto Ariel's shell and being personally escorted onto the white sand metres from where they docked. The braixen felt a little guilty for that, but the lapras offered to do that and his friends encouraged him too, the water was cold enough to make them want an escort.

The cliffs that surrounded the narrow beach were covered in blue, grey and brown vegetation, meaning they were no longer in the coldest zone of Crio, but they were still on the northern coastline, which was still cold enough to get snow. Ariel and Beryl waited for the others to regroup and as Shadow was the first to bolt out of the water. Glim ironically felt the water to be at soothing temperature for him and was the last to leave the water. For a moment, it looked like Terri was still inside the boat, until the glaceon spotted her climbing down from Shadow's back.

Glim joined the rest of his friends on the white sand, which was when the lapras turned and said 'see ya, good luck.'

'W-wait!' called Karli, while Ariel appeared to slide so slickly into the water.

'I have to get to Liatrus by eleven and still have some way to go!' she replied, using psychic powers to reconnect her idle carriage to the harness on her shell. 'Good luck out there!' she said, before breathing out a massive stream of mist, fogging up the area around her. The lapras then swiftly swam away, disappearing into the fog.

'It would've been nice to get directions… or to know where the hell we are right now.'

Glim spoke. 'We're-'

'We're on Lumineon Point.' interrupted Shadow. 'We've only got to head south, right?' he said, looking at Angel, who slumped his backpack down, digging for his map.

'Hold on.' said Angel, pulling out his map and unfolding it. 'Here,' he said, kneeling down for his friends to see and pointing on the right tip of the V channel. 'This is Lumineon Point. There's no roads whatsoever down to Statice, so we'll just cross over to Larkspur and south again.'

'Right.' replied Shadow.

Suddenly Glim gasped quietly and his ears sprung up as he remembered what he was told about Larkspur Town. It was warned to be a 'slaughterhouse' and he alone would have to persuade his friends to avoid it.

'No, no wait!' cried Glim, suddenly surprised and shocked, which made his friends become wary.

'What?' asked Shadow, shocked by the glaceon's transformation.

'W-we can't go through Larkspur, haven't you heard about it? It's incredibly dangerous now.'

'Glim,' replied Angel. 'We're in a revolution, everywhere is dangerous.'

'Hold on, hold on.' interrupted Karli. 'What's happened to Larkspur?'

'Y-Yuki,' stuttered Glim. 'Yuki told me that that town has become a cult and are killing people who enter. Like- like Symphonia! Remember Shadow?'

The houndoom nodded very nervously. 'Yeah, but Glim, you're acting very shifty. Are you alright?'

The glaceon just paused, unable to think or say anything without getting any more suspicious than he already was.

The weavile asked 'why would Yuki tell you, but none of us?'

'Please, just trust me!' cried Glim, unable to think of any more ways to persuade them to avoid Larkspur.

Seeing the glaceon so desperate and serious all of a sudden did make the others wary, especially to Angel, who was only seeing his words to be suspicious. Shadow and Karli wanted to agree with Glim, knowing how depressive and innocent he can be, being a contrast to his funk there at the time. Beryl and Terri meanwhile are not sure of what is going on at all and instead looked at the other pokémon for their own state of mind on what Glim was warning them about.

'It is the most religious landmark in Crio.' said Shadow to the other curious pokémon.

'Is it?' asked Angel.

'Yeah, I was brought up in a Coronet, in Iris, and they sometimes spoke about Larkspur. Being some "sacred ground" or something.'

'I've heard of that.' Karli spoke up. 'Was there anything Yuki told you specifically, Glim?'

Having a moment to think gave the glaceon a chance to remember what the mysterious woman had told him. 'She just said that it wasn't in the papers yet and to avoid it at all costs.'

'I still want to know why she didn't tell any of us that.' said Angel, giving Glim a wary stare.

'Maybe she told Mercury, to tell us.' answered Beryl with a sad expression, also hinting to why they did not know.

The weavile then nodded and looked back at his map. 'Alright, then are only other way south, is to forge a path down the country side, down to Statice and we can worry about the Lake Mesprit boarder later. This map does not tell me about the terrain much, so.'

'Wait, where're we going?' asked Shadow.

'Over there.' Angel pointed slightly to his right, heading south, which passed through a cave, before they would hit any country.

Glim was relieved to have persuaded his friends to evade Larkspur, but to an extent he regretted it, as the journey through the miles of fields, hill woods and streams took hours and was very stressful. Nobody wanted to talk, under Angel's advice to not alert anybody of their presence, whether or not they were from the CR or Republic. Things got even worse when the storm came round after travelling the first eighteen miles. The cold rain and chilling winds were fine for the weavile, the glaceon, however Shadow, Beryl and Terri were naturally vulnerable in wet weather. The crew did not stop, since they were only a few miles from the village they intended to stop by.

Lightning struck as the six friends ran out of the woods, having joined some country road that led into the lush village. Rather like Jasmine, Statice was a beautiful village coated by flowers. Unfortunately the storm had not cleared and they had not thought about where they were going to stay. Angel at the front of the pack stopped under a large olden bus shelter on a roundabout. Shadow arrived just after the weavile, immediately shaking himself violently, flinging a lot of the water onto Angel.

'Oh- Shadow, thanks!' he complained.

'Sorry mate.'

Seconds later, the rest of the crew ran out of the heavy rain and under the giant wooden roof. Beryl and Terri were also desperate to shake off the water on them, though the braixen had a much less messier method, he instead went straight to grooming the water off him. Karli as well began squeezing her long blue hair and dress to free the rainwater. The glaceon seemed more content, since being cold was more comforting for an ice type.

'You guys wait here,' called Angel, looking at the nearby buildings. 'I'm gonna see if any of these are shelters, okay?'

Even though he was asking, the weavile did not wait for an answer and ran back into the rain in search of shelter. Due to the storm, Angel simply vanished in the visible winds carrying water.

Beryl and Karli continued to squeeze water off them as Shadow approached his little glaceon, who looked up at him, soaking wet. Glim seemed curious to why the big dog pokémon looked at him the way he did. Those big pretty eyes, complimented by his glistening crown and shining coat made him smile. Shadow sat down and proceeded to groom the glaceon, wiping off the water, though his paws and tongue were incredibly hot. Glim sat down too, feeling a little uncomfortable, but feeling that tongue going up the side of his face and behind his ear felt so satisfying.

Glim was not the only one to get some friendly treatment, Karli was less concerned about getting a cold and so went to help the pained braixen dry himself. Terri was keen to stay warm too and approached Beryl who physically felt warm to stand next to. He and Karli were continuing with their friendly grooming when the cranidos stood closely next to them. Beryl felt a little nervous about Terri being so close, but understood that she was just cold.

Angel came back, only minutes after he left. 'Okay! There's a village hall, down the road.' he said, pointing down the road he came back from.

One by one, the crew prepared for the harsh rain that began to slow down. The hardy weavile leaped back out into the rain and waited. Yelling 'go, go, go' as his friends ran out of the bus shelter. For some reason, after watching Shadow, Glim and Terri run out, Angel decided to stick his foot out as Beryl was passing him, causing him to fly and splash flat on his face in a massive rain puddle. Immediately, the weavile erupted in laughter, while Karli yelled out in despair for Beryl.

'Angel!' cried Karli. 'What the fuck was that for?'

Beryl quickly got up, miserable and furious, while Angel was having trouble in catching his breath. However, the weavile was guiltily waving his arms and with an expression that he was also apologetic and trying to apologise, except he could not stop laughing. Seeing the amusement from the weavile caused the braixen to light up in a burning fury, as he drew out his wand and began blasting a stream of fire, seemingly unaffected by the rain. Having anticipated the act of revenge, Angel legged it in the opposite direction, easily dodging what looked like a long wall of fire. The kirlia meanwhile, was a little shocked by Angel's mischief and Beryl's enragement, but it made her chuckle guiltily too. When the mischievous sharp claw pokémon ran off, still laughing helplessly, Beryl quickly calmed down, sort of.

'Fucking asshole!' he cried.

'C'mon Beryl.' said Karli, happily running by and taking his paw.

Up ahead, the rain began to slow down as Shadow stopped by a long olden building, made of uneven rocks, simply cemented together. A sign in front of it said 'Village Hall' and below it had 'open to refugees and survivors' painted on. The building looked like a Coronet with its primitive, artistic design, but similar buildings of that size were used as halls for all kinds of events.

Seconds later Glim and Terri came around the corner of hedges and enter the parking lot in front of the hall. The houndoom waited for them to spot the hall before he too ran inside the building that kept its doors open. Inside Shadow resisted shaking himself dry, as he was greeted by a male audino, leaving his desk.

'Welcome,' he said, in a caring tone, approaching Shadow, but looking at the door to see a glaceon and cranidos run in. 'Did you escape from Larkspur, or Haine?'

The houndoom also looked back, wondering why Karli, Angel and Beryl were not behind them. 'No, we're… wait, what's happening in Larkspur?'

The audino paused. 'Unless you're going there, it would be best if you didn't know.'

Glim looked up at him, sharing the look of unease and depression. At least the village could confirm for his friends about the town many miles north-west. The glaceon then turned round also, just in time to see the soaked, dirty braixen and kirlia running toward the building.

'Oh there they are.' said Shadow, who looked to the welcoming audino. 'We're from neither and just need a place to shelter right now.'

'Of course, of course.' replied the audino, bowing and pointing to the doors to his left. 'This may not be a luxurious home, but we have enough supplies and bedding to home refugees for now. So make yourself at home. My name is Azul and I'm one of the village doctors. If anybody is feeling unwell, please let me know.'

During his introduction, Beryl and Karli came inside, catching their breath when they stopped. The braixen however seemed more interested in cleaning himself up again.

'Will do.' nodded Shadow.

'Oh wait,' replied Azul, returning to his counter. 'Can I get your names, please? For quicker medical purposes. They can go on.'

'Okay.' the houndoom nodded at the doors and Terri was the first to open it and leave the room. 'So I'm Shadow, a houndoom.'

'No need to tell me your species.' he said, winking.

'Oh good, that was Terri who just left.' continued Shadow, as Karli and Beryl left the room as well, while Glim chose to stay. 'Karli, the kirlia and the other was Beryl, and here we have Glim.'

The audino quickly jotted down the names and species as quick as he could. 'Okay, done.' he said happily. 'I can only assume that I spelled your names right.'

'Oh… don't worry, I'm bollocks at…' said Shadow leaning back to see outside the front door again. He then looked at the sitting glaceon. 'Hey, where's Angel?'

Glim had a curious look, only looking through the same doors.

'Angel?' asked Azul.

'He's a weavile, he was just behind us as well.'

'I think I saw him a few minutes ago, shall I write his name down too?'

'Yeah yeah, I'm sure he'll be here soon. Glim, you go on, I'm going to wait for him.'

'Oh- okay.' replied Glim, nodding.

Down the corridor from the main entrance, the glaceon could hear the room neighbouring the corridor to be getting louder, the closer he got to the other side. At the end, he noticed a cinccino crying on the left side, holding tightly onto a mawile. Opposite the two, was the door into the hall. Glim gave one worrying look at the couple, unsure of what their relations were, but he quickly saw the still cold look from one of the mawile's eyes. That look sent a chill down Glim's back, the mawile was dead. Frightened, the glaceon quickly opened the door and entered the hall, unable to stay in that corridor.

The fright of seeing a dead young mawile eased the surprise of the hall being rather crowded. There were tables and tents with numbers all over the place. The noise was almost three times louder than what it was in the corridor. Despite the noise and activity, Glim was able to hear Karli calling his name to his right. The blue-haired kirlia was waving her arm quite far down the hall, where it looked a little emptier. The atmosphere was buzzing with activity, as if it was a nightclub for families, children were running around playing, while adults were sat anywhere the glaceon looked, either talking, comforting, sharing photos or bringing food.

'We've been given 138!' said Karli, pointing down the aisle she stood next to.

Glim could only assume that meant what tent they were staying in, which seemed to be the case. The kirlia was holding a blanket as she led the glaceon to where they were staying. The tents where surprisingly big on the inside as they each had a raised level, with room for at least two smaller pokémon. For that reason, Terri was already on the top bunk, which did not look safe at all, as it was just a few boards with a blanket held up by some poles. Beryl meanwhile was predictably drying himself with a towel, still appearing a little annoyed after Angel's stunt.

Karli knelt down, setting out her blanket, when Glim had something to ask. 'Um, do you know where Angel went? He didn't show up when you guys left.'

Beryl and Karli looked at each other, which then the kirlia chuckled. 'Um, I'm sure he'll come round. Y'know after he gives Beryl enough space.'

The braixen sighed angrily, gently grooming himself. 'I'm fine now, damn it!'

'Did- did I miss something?' asked Glim, with wide eyes.

The kirlia tried to resist giggling, waving her hands at Glim. 'Don't worry, he'll be back.'

About five minutes later, while the glaceon sat outside their tent to signal Shadow or Angel if they came in, the houndoom approached, he had a suspicious look on his face. Glim noticed him a little too late to tell him they were staying there, but he could sense that something was wrong as the houndoom peered into the tent.

'Hey Shadow.' said both Karli and Terri in unison.

He politely nodded in return, but seemed rather fearful as he fixed his gaze on the kirlia. 'Hey Karli?'

Noticing the tension, Karli paused. 'Yeah?'

'Someone is waiting outside, for you.'

Everyone in the tent stared at the surprised kirlia, all with the same curious look. However, her expression then turned into a look of both dread and annoyance.

'Tell me this isn't a dusknoir.'

The houndoom's eyes went from tense to pity, knowing he was terrible at lying. Shadow gave a cold nod to confirm her hunch.

Karli sighed. 'Can everyone come with me, for this?'

'Are we… going to fight him?'

'No… but I would like all your support with this, I've come too far now.'

With that, she stood and left the tent. Worried for her, Glim and Beryl tailed her and Shadow was keener on going wherever his boyfriend was going. The little cranidos also followed, unwilling to be alone. The kirlia seemed both frustrated and nervous, indicated by her serious expression, yet edgy movements.

* * *

Outside the village hall, Angel stood between the hall and an enormous plump ghost type pokémon, with muscular arms and a long grey cloak, draping from his back. He was floating there, since dusknoir have no legs, with arms folded and towering over the weavile. He was not moving and keeping his distance and surprisingly, the look on his one eye had a sense of peacefulness about it, despite the intimidation of such a pokémon. From what Azul could see from the entrance, it looked like that Angel was arguing with the giant ghost.

It had thankfully stopped raining, as the crew stepped out, one by one, at which point, Angel had stopped talking and glanced back to see the shiny kirlia step out first. The weavile took a step back letting the dusknoir and kirlia to see each other easier. Karli clenched her fists, nervous as hell, but resisting to show it.

'Hello dad.' she said.

Everyone else were silent, just watching the fire in Karli's eyes and the pressure emanating from her father just opposite. The tension was unbearable, even for outsiders like Glim and Shadow. The only innocent one was Terri.

'Wait,' she blurted. 'That's your daddy?'

The dusknoir had a surprised look in his eye, hearing the voice of the little cranidos, which then surveyed the others. 'Greetings, everyone.' he said so politely. 'I am assuming you are friends of Karli?' everybody nearby could only nod. 'My name is McGregor, I am indeed Karli's father.' the dusknoir and kirlia paused for a moment. 'Karli… you know why I am here, don't you? I am here-'

'I'm not going home!' Karli said.

The friends around her began getting paranoid of an ugly family scenario or even a fight, as McGregor sighed. 'Karli. If only you knew the worry you've been putting on me and your mother! Not only did you not return to stay in Iris, after the raid so I could find you. You instead ran all the way to Camellias and now intend to go to Haine, are you really that naïve!'

'I said I'm not going home dad! I've come too far and lost too many of my friends to turn back now.'

'That does not mean you have to die for them! You survived, my child. That is a privilege for any parent or friend, don't let your luck go to waste!'

'It's bigger than that! If I go home back to that hellhole, my luck really will go to waste. Crio is at revolution!'

'Which will not affect Stephanotis.'

'It will eventually! And I'm not dying cooped up, grounded for the rest of my life! Fuck off!' she shouted, cheeks burning red, while McGregor paused emotionlessly. 'You know how we'll settle this.'

'I was hoping, Karli, we could settle this more peacefully. But to know you haven't changed in spite of your journey, is a bit of a relief to me. But you are still just as stubborn as I am. Very well then.'

The dusknoir took off his robe, revealing the black armour he wore over his left arm and shoulder. Immediately, Shadow, Angel and Glim were calling out for them to stop as it was obvious that they were about to fight.

'Stop, stop, stop!' shouted Shadow.

'Don't fight!' cried Glim.

'This can be resolved peacefully!' continued Shadow, staring up at the dusknoir veteran.

'No, it can't.' said Karli. 'Unless you guys want your asses kicked, you'll stay out of this. Because… he will.'

'Well count me in!' shouted Angel. 'This just doesn't need to-'

Suddenly McGregor vanished into the floor before shooting up behind the weavile and giving him a brutal Brick Break to his back, breaking through his cold and dark intentions. Angel was sent flying metres away, quickly crashing into the hedge nearby.

'Angel!' shouted Shadow, as he and Glim took a random dive away, thinking that McGregor was going to attack them too.

Upon hearing the vicious cracking sound of the dusknoir's chop, Berly and Terri ran over to Angel, who urgently needing medical attention. Thankfully Azul had also heard the attack and was attending to the matter, running out from the entrance.

McGregor reappeared back to where he was only seconds ago. 'Stay out of this!' he roared. 'This, is a family matter.' Shadow looked over at Angel worriedly and back to Glim, who was safe, but also worried for Karli. 'You can have the first move as always, my child.'

'Do not underestimate me now dad!' said Karli, hitting the floor and summoning a Reflect barrier.

'That's not going to save you.'

McGregor lunged forward, attempting to simply break the Reflect with Brick Break, when he was suddenly hit back by the kirlia rising from the floor, the same way her father did. The attack only prodded him forward and made him grunt lightly, as he glanced round, charging his fist in electricity, but as he suddenly threw his fist, the Reflect spell swooped between Karli and the dusknoir, causing a massive echo and pushing the kirlia a little further away. She landed metres from where was likely to land after her first attack, but she fell to her feet perfectly. The barrier appeared before her again, which was not the only advantage Karli had, though she was unaware of it, the eviolite strapped to her neck was glowing a faint purple, severely pumping her up.

'Your use of Shadow Sneak has not gotten any better, Karli.' said McGregor. 'Let me show you how it's done.'

As before, the mighty dusknoir disappeared into the ground, but Karli knowing that technique well jumped up, pointing her Reflect downward as quickly as she could helped to deflect the fierce ascent McGregor gave when he rose. However her strategy appeared to worked, as the dusknoir fell back to the ground, but the impact also sent the kirlia much higher into the air. That however gave Karli a safe distance to use another attack. She summoned a load of leaves from thin air, which then quickly homed in on the fearsome dusknoir who began to levitate and cover himself with armour on his arm. Each of the leaves would barely make him flinch as he drew closer to the falling kirlia, who quickly became aware of her danger. She had flown some distance away from the hall and used Psychic to stop herself from impacting on the ground so hard. She rolled out of the collision she suppressed, landing on the lonesome road, between the hall and village square. As soon as she stood, she knew her father would be using his gravity to his advantage and pointed her Reflect upward, just in time to get smashed to pieces by McGregor using Brick Break. The force of his attack had shook the ground beneath them, causing the kirlia to fall back and roll back onto her feet again. Instead of another attack, McGregor paused, staring his daughter.

'Are you all right?'

Somewhat offended by the question, Karli summoned another Reflect to her advantage.

'You never give up. I guess I have myself to blame for that.'

McGregor stayed in place that time and attempted to break the barrier again, when he was suddenly met by another uppercut from the shadows below him. As before, it only belted forward, as he used the momentum to wing his hand round, making it certain to break the Reflect and as soon as it broke, he turned completely black and zoomed into the kirlia, knocking her several metres away. She yelled in pain, but not scream in agony, like she used to, thought the dusknoir. Something was very different about his daughter as she ground herself to a stop and stood without a regret.

Nearby, Shadow, Glim and Beryl left the parking lot, to watch the battle, in case their help was needed or if things got taken too far. Karli got roughed up from the last attack, but was visibly determined to fight on.

Predicting his moves, Karli took steps back, encouraging her father to use Shadow Sneak again. Her tactic had worked as the dusknoir turned black and instantly sunk to the ground, but since they were quite far from each other, she had enough time to summon yet another Reflect, causing McGregor to crash into it, knocking both himself and Karli back. However, the kirlia was quicker to regain her footing and retaliated with the same attack, that time, appearing over her father and stomping on his face. He crashed onto the ground, followed by enduring another set of Magical Leaf Karli quickly summoned.

As soon as Karli landed fiercely, metres away, McGregor sunk to the ground, gambling on mind games. However Karli had already predicted that and leaped forward, leaving her Reflect on the ground far behind her. Her gambit succeeded in falling the dusknoir who rose up, quickly breaking yet another barrier with Brick Break, only to be countered by the kirlia striking him from behind with another Shadow Sneak. That time, when McGregor got back up and Karli summoned her fourth Reflect, the dusknoir merely stood, staring at his daughter with a look of surprise and confusion.

'How on earth…' he said, trying to not sound breathless. 'Have you become so tough?'

Seeing a personal change within the eye of her father, Karli, still holding her stance and barrier decided to ask. 'Dad, we don't have to do this. I'm a big girl now. Let me go.'

For a moment, the dusknoir thought about it, remaining so silent. His breathing increased and sweat became more visible. It seemed even he was at a loss, until he saw one advantage. Having paused for so long, Karli's Reflect suddenly faded.

'No!' yelled McGregor lunging forward his darkened form.

Instantly knowing that she would not be able to summon another Reflect, the kirlia resorted to using Shadow Sneak also. Both of them disappeared roughly at the same time, but the dusknoir lunged out of the floor only a split second earlier, for being quicker than his daughter, who then struck him from behind once more. The mighty dusknoir fell down, catching himself as he did. A myriad of emotions went through him, agonised for being beaten by his daughter, amazement to know just how much stronger she had become and regret, because he was there to take her home, when she was clearly able to take care of herself. She had a lot friends too, so even if she was to fall, they would be there for her, as they did stand up the McGregor before their fight.

Karli landed hard, poorly breaker her fall, but quickly getting back to face her father once more if he was able. To her surprise, her father, remained looking downward, twitching in pain. That time, she was the one to ask the question as she stood straight.

'Dad?' she paused. 'Are you all right?'

The dusknoir looked up, still with his back to his daughter, several metres away. He could see Shadow and Glim, stood in awe, afraid to say or intervene. Beryl stood near Karli, hoping for the battle to be over, frequently glancing back at Angel, who was often yelling in pain. McGregor looked down again and shook his head.


	14. Confronting and leaving cold

Chapter 14  
'Confronting and leaving cold.'

The medical room, previously being the manager's office at the village hall, which was where Angel was taken after his injury from Karli's father. He was hit on the back, breaking what cold he had, sustaining his body and bruising the left side of his back. The weavile also received multiple scratches and a big denture on his head fins from impacting against the wall.

Dr Azul was tending to his wounds, leaving a large pack of ice on his back, whilst the weavile was advised to breathe in deeply. Judging by his pained expression, it looked painful just to breathe. Just opposite the weavile were Terri and Beryl, there to help if the audino needed them. They both seemed concerned, though the braixen was still a little annoyed about Angel tripping him up into the dirty puddle earlier. As it happened, the weavile could barely see the annoyance in his eyes, which made him smirk.

'Managed…' wheezed Angel, breathing heavily. 'To get yourself… cleaned up, Beryl?'

The eyes of Beryl squinted slightly. 'Yeah, speaking of that.'

The braixen suddenly struck the weavile's face with a swift slap. Making Angel tensed hard, clenching his teeth and grunt loudly, while Azul gasped, trying to hold him still.

'Please, please do not do that!' said Azul.

'Yeah,' panted Angel 'I just had my fucking... back wrecked!'

'Well it's not broken, thankfully. Your ribs are in one piece, but that attack from the dusknoir has left quite a bruise on your back.'

'Great.'

'So just keep to those breathing exercises as I said earlier, and let it heal for a couple of days, at least.'

The weavile interrupted. 'A couple of days? We intend… to get to Haine tonight.'

'Then you will have severe difficulty Angel. If you are going anyway, then please be aware that your stamina will be drastically weaker in this state.'

'Could he get better before then?' asked little Terri.

'Maybe, but I saw that attack Mr McGregor did to you, which looked massively lethal. So I wouldn't say it was likely.'

Angel stood up from his chair. 'Well, I'm going anyway.'

The weavile left the office, walking so straight and with tensed shoulders. The braixen and cranidos just watched, unsure of what they should do. It seemed that Angel was angry again, but needed help, something he seemed negligent for.

Back at the large, circular, soaked bus stop, Karli and her father stood metres apart, having stopped their fight to talk for a moment. Because of how noisy the hall was, they chose to return to the bus stop, in case it rained again. Just outside the bus shelter stood Glim and Shadow, unwelcomed to come any closer. However, the glaceon was refusing to leave and for that reason, his houndoom stayed with him.

Even though the kirlia and dusknoir were keeping their distance, they were more relaxed and actually upset, despite what they thought of each other. They continued to stare, roughed, wet and dusty from their fight over ten minutes ago. McGregor shook his head in disappointment, not with his daughter, but in himself, for what was a little more complicated. Was he down because he was refusing to let his daughter go, or because he was being fought back surprisingly well? He felt he should be proud of Karli, but just did not.

'How on earth did you learn to fight like that?' McGregor asked.

'What're you talking about?' replied Karli. 'We've always fought like that, whenever we came to some disa-'

'No- I'm mean… you've never willingly stood against me, for as long as that and manage to hurt me to the point of…'

The dusknoir paused, refusing to let his dominant nature get to him, but his kirlia knew what he was going to say.

'Dad… I'm a big girl now. I can handle myself.'

'Not from what I saw in my last vision. Karli, I saw you getting frozen by a family of murderers! If it wasn't for him,' he said pointing at Glim. 'And your weavile friend, you would probably be dead right now.'

Karli hoped that her father would not have seen that event from the future visions he gets.

'I know, but you have to understand dad. They would probably be dead if I wasn't there for them! Did you see any of the fights against Martyr?'

'Against who?'

'Typical! Whatever I do right, no one remembers, but whatever I do wrong, no one forgets.'

'Karli… I'm taking you home, whether you like it or not.'

'No, I'm, not.' she replied angrily, causing the eviolite on her neck strap to flicker.

Fearing they were about to start another fight, Glim hurriedly ran between them. 'No, stop!' he cried, joined by Shadow who was outran for once. 'Just stop for a second, please! Karli doesn't want to go home!' he said to the dusknoir before glancing back at the kirlia. 'And your father is worried for you!'

'You think I don't know that, Glim!' replied Karli. 'For eighteen years before I moved out, I had him stopping me at every desire I had, not because it was what he wanted for me, or that bitch queen of a mother would make him. But because I was deciding for myself, I wanted to be someone that they didn't want me to be, myself!' she paused, glowing red, feeling the rush of her emotions as there was no turning back for her. 'I'll never forget that time, she made you try to force me to evolve into a gardevoir… remember that dad?'

'L-look,' interjected Shadow. 'You two get some space, perhaps talk to one of us, before either of you decide what happens next, okay?'

Both father and daughter paused, before the kirlia turned round and stormed off, while McGregor sighed and nodded.

'I think, that would be the best action right now.'

Back in the hall, Angel returned to his tent, putting his trench coat back on, but also shoved the ice pack between his back and the coat he tightly pulled around him. It was not long before Beryl came by, claw in claw with Terri, who peeked into the tent, to see the weavile still adjusting his coat.

'Uh… Angel?' said Beryl. 'Terri and I are going to find Karli, okay?'

'Hang on, I'm coming with you.' he replied.

'But Dr Azul said-'

'My ass was pretty, shut up!' Angel blurted, standing and leaving the tent. 'I can take a bruise, Beryl. We've taken much worse shit, remember?'

The little cranidos was a little unnerved by the feeling of confrontation between the two before her, looking up at the braixen who only nodded sadly. Angel then patted Berly's shoulder and left, closely followed by the braixen and cranidos.

The dusknoir was sat on the circular bench that was at the centre of the bus stop, which surrounded a pillar to hold the roof. He looked out at the village, actually staring into nothingness, when Glim approached. The houndoom strode past the glaceon to turn and hold him back.

'Sweetheart.' whispered Shadow, shaking his head.

'Go and find Karli.' replied Glim.

'I'm not leaving you with him.'

'Just let me talk to him.'

'He was beating up his own daughter!' he paused, looking back at McGregor with an apologetic face.

'At least he was able to stop, and listen. Your "father" tried to kill you, and my father…'

Glim paused, receiving flashbacks of his own father, the slaking who grabbed him by the neck and slammed him against a cellar door. Compared to the frail, little eevee, the slaking looked like a colossus, punishing a devilish criminal, except, Glim knows he did nothing wrong, so he cried in fear, while his father continued to scream and threaten him. The flashback made the glaceon twitch in rage and agony, flaring up his cheeks.

'Glim, you alright love?'

'You can let him talk, houndoom.' answered the dusknoir. 'I wouldn't want to make my daughter hate me any more than she does right now.'

The little glaceon shook his flashbacks away and moved around Shadow to look up at McGregor. 'I don't think Karli hates you… she's just… well there's a big difference between anger and hatred. She's just angry you're trying to stop her and clearly, she really- I've never heard her talk about her mother before, but… I can relate to her feelings.'

'Do you have parent problems?' asked McGregor and Glim nodded. 'Do you hate them?'

'More than you know. I used to think all children would be beaten for wetting the bed. I used to think that they brought me to life so they had someone to hurt, who couldn't defend them self. I was just an eevee.'

'I'd never do that to Karli. But, do you think that's what she sees in me?'

Both the glaceon and houndoom answered 'no.'

'You came all this way because you cared for Karli,' replied Glim, then glancing at Shadow. 'Our fathers would have left us for dead. I know mine did.'

'And my father tried to kill me for… well, because of his beliefs.' said Shadow.

McGregor was unbothered about the coupling between the glaceon and houndoom, instead he looked out at the village again and a little relieved to know that he has not been as terrible as he thinks.

'What should I do?' muttered the dusknoir. 'I cannot just let her go to Haine, let her get killed, nor can I go all the way back to Stephanotis and tell my wife that I let her go.'

'Then… come with us.' replied the glaceon, like the solution was so obvious.

McGregor paused, thinking deeply again, while Glim and Shadow looked at each other. The houndoom nodded.

'I'll- I'll go find Karli, okay?' he said, looking at Glim, who nodded. Shadow then looked at the dusknoir. 'Okay?'

The giant, tattered ghost pokémon did not answer and just sat quietly. His lone creepy red eye frequently looked up and paced slightly left to right. He looked like he was in a maths exam, figuring out tough calculations. With no answer, the houndoom looked to his boyfriend again and left with a wink.

Glim stared back at the dusknoir, who was still looking up in silence. He felt a little wary and curious about his pausing.

'Um… can I ask what you're doing?'

Finally, McGregor shook his head and looked back at the little glaceon. 'I was just peering into the future. It's something I can do as a dusknoir.'

'Peering into the future…? Like… Karli's future?'

'Yes, although, it is far easier for psychic types. For any other type, there are always multiple "uncertain futures" we call them. But it seems, that you and your friends are in the majority. Karli has been easy to predict in my experience, for being my daughter you see. She may be caring, serious and determined, but she can also be headstrong and reckless sometimes.'

The glaceon nodded. 'True, but… she has saved me before and helped us along the way.'

'I figured. Though I would trust her more if she did evolve into a gardevoir, not that I have anything against her desires.'

'So… you know about that?'

'Of course I do. She wanted to be a gallade ever since she was just a ralts. However, her mother was never happy about that.'

'I know what that is like.' murmured Glim, cowardly.

The glaceon awkwardly paused for a moment, while McGregor stared. 'You do?'

'Can I tell you something? Which… might help you understand Karli's feelings?'

'Of course.'

Glim paused again, seeming shy and looking behind himself. 'This… isn't something I want just anyone to know.'

'And I sure do not tell of Karli's desire, as if it was some joke.'

'Well… I know what I wanted to evolve into, like Karli, but… it was my family and society that stopped me from becoming what I wanted to be most.'

McGregor nodded, his lone eye lacked emotion, seeming less intimidating and more curious. 'From my understanding, you "eeveelutions" get the toughest choice, since you have so many options.' the glaceon nodded. 'Did you not want to evolve into a glaceon?'

'I… didn't not want to be any the others… but I know, I really wanted to be sylveon.'

'Did you let your parents know this?'

'I was too scared to… my mother already had jolteon or umbreon in mind for me, my brothers were big-headed, sexist assholes. If I ever brought up my choices and mentioned sylveon, my mother would just laugh and my brothers would just beat me up for it.'

'What were they?'

'A flareon and a vaporeon.'

'And you're parents?'

'My mother was a sylveon… the angriest, chubbiest one ever, and my father wasn't an eevee at all. He was a slaking. No idea how I didn't end up chubby or fat like them… I hate them so much.'

'Did they… force you to evolve?'

'No, no, I was resc- well, abandoned as an eevee! Not like you though… you came all this way to rescue Karli, despite- despite she has her grudges.' he said, while the dusknoir looked down. 'You're a better father than mine.'

'But… I could have been much better to her. And I will.'

'Huh?'

McGregor levitated off the bench. 'It will be best for now, if Karli is seen by her friends before confronting me again. If you could, please find her and ask if it would be okay if I came along? Not that I-'

'O-of course! Where're you going to wait?'

McGregor drifted pass Glim, who moved aside. 'I'll be right here, unless you- her friends need any help?'

'I haven't checked on them yet. But I know Angel is tough as shit, so… I can't say I know.'

'Okay then. Go find Karli.'

'It doesn't bother you does it?' asked Glim, the dusknoir looks back at him with a questioning stare. 'A-about me wanting to be sylveon… will you keep that between us?'

'Of course Glim, I rarely tell secrets ever, but… in times like these, personal secrets are of less value. Even if people knew, do you think they would care? Would it change anything?'

The glaceon paused, remembering of all the gender stereotypes hammered into his head as an eevee. His older brothers and parents always pressuring him from speaking his feelings or letting him do anything that was seen as feminine. And of course, when Symphonia court laughed at him for getting him to put on a dress. How could he take the stand, to be himself, to become the sylveon he wanted to be, when the rest of the world always ridiculed the very thought of a boy crossing the delicate line of gender identity. It hurt so much for the little glaceon to think about it, so he did not answer McGregor and just left.

In the middle of nowhere, which was really just on top of the hill, to the right of Statice village, Karli sat on a metal fence. She was just looking out into what seemed like endless horizons of Verity countryside. The field which stretched before her was clean and green, but the crops were either blown over or dead. Whoever owned the land had clearly abandoned it, due to the revolution. Beyond the horizons was the usual blanket of clouds, blocking the sun, which would begin to set, but instead, it only left a dark orange tint with grey patches all along the sky.

The kirlia sighed, stuck in her train of thought, when a houndoom crept up the hill she climbed.

'Karli?' said Shadow, unnoticed by the kirlia. 'You want someone to talk to?'

'When do we leave for Haine?' she answered.

'Um… well. Well when it is sure to be dark over there. We still have like forty miles to travel, not to mention the county border between Verity to Acuity, right outside Haine. We still haven't figured that one out yet.' Karli replied with an angry sigh. 'Do you really hate your father that much?'

'No! I don't, it's just…' she said, clutching her hair with death in her eyes. 'I hoped he would have some faith in me. Even with what I just did back there! I fucking kicked him and still, he doesn't approve.'

'Can you blame him though, Karli?' approached the houndoom. 'He's your father, and you're trying to join a warzone. I know he was attacking you, but… he's a lot better than what Glim and I had. Seriously, my father in law tried to kill me, over his religious beliefs and god knows what Glim's father did to him.'

'Even if he is trying to protect me.' said Karli jumping off the gate, facing Shadow. 'I'm not a kid anymore!' she paused, firing a blazing glare at the houndoom, whose eyes showed a gentle care.

'That doesn't mean you have to escape him!' cried Shadow, which made the both of them pause. 'You might not understand Karli, but… I was a stray before Father Charles took me in. Not that my parents were dead either.'

'What happened?'

The two paused still and Shadow looked away.

'This was in the Moribund region.' he began to mumble. 'When my parent's pack were travelling across the Brickle ice plains. As a houndour, we don't have it easy to begin with. Quite regularly, whenever something went wrong or my parent's "prey" escaped, whoever was to blame, they would always beat the shit out of me. Why? Because I couldn't defend myself, being a full year younger than all my family. I used to think it was normal… like we all went through that. But when I turned four… my oldest sister was killed when she tried to kill a feral beartic. She took no consideration in to how fucking big that thing was and that I just was not old enough to stand up to it. I was too scared… they treated me like I was useless. But of course, when the beartic left, leaving me alone, my family came. They blamed me for her death! Saying I was just a cowardly rat to them… they then said if I didn't run then, I would be their next dinner, since the beartic got away. At first I didn't believe them, and walked off as they told me to. But in like one mile or so, I hear the pissy howl of my dad. In "hound speak" he said "we're coming for you", and it was no joke. I ran, and ran, and ran when I looked back to see the black figure on the horizon charging after me. I knew it was my dad and I could hear him growling as he ran, he would always do that when he was going to attack me. It was on top of some hill with a chasm, when my father caught me, he tackled at me, instead of the usual blasting of flames or scratching. From then I didn't know what he was doing, only that my neck ended up between his mouth, instead of killing me however, he threw me into the chasm we were just next to. Being just a puppy, I could only whimper, I was scared shitless. I landed in the lair of several ice types, one was a lapras, who I didn't see until my father peeked down into the chasm. That lapras shot him in the face was some water attack, which was the last time I ever saw him.'

'Your family were genuinely trying to eat you?'

'I used to think they were making that up to scare me, like they did every day. But… knowing all the other things they did, it doesn't surprise me.'

'What happened then? With those ice types?'

'There was that lapras, she never told me her name, her girlfriend, who was another lapras and they were taking care of multiple children who got lost in that area. Mostly ice types though, bergmite, cubchoo, snorunt, a glaceon and a dewgong. I didn't know any of their names, but they clearly knew I was injured and in danger of my family, so for the next few days, they took care of me. I was so lost, not because I was a houndour with a load of ice's, but… because they were just so nice to me. I ate like everyone else did, we slept together to keep warm. Not something I was part of with that family.'

'Hold on, those ice types sounded great to you. How come you ended up in Iris?'

Shadow paused. 'It was soon clear that I just did not belong in the cold, brutal region that is Moribund, especially in that county. A pack of houndour and dooms, maybe. But alone, I would eventually hunt their kind… the ice types I mean. Either that, or I would die when the proper winter came round, needing the most warmth. So the lapras' and their friends took me to some orphanage, I had no idea where… they were full. With Moribund being such a hostile region for anybody who wasn't ice type, the orphanage I think, found a way to get me sheltered at one of their sister locations. That's how I ended up in Hydrangea first, which I was then adopted by Father Charles.'

Karli looked depressed and shook her head.

'That's awful, but you know. There's always someone in the world who has it worse.'

The houndoom nodded in agreement. 'Mh, of course.'

'So what's happening between me and my father, you stay out of.'

'It's okay Karli, but I just want you to know. Being rash and fighting for your independence, could make you end up like my sister… dead. I'm sure Glim and especially your father wouldn't want that. In fact, he could end up like mine if he lost you, then we'd all have someone to run from, wouldn't we?' the kirlia remained quiet as Shadow turned round. 'Glim's trying his best to persuade your father to come with us. It's better than either of you going home, right? I'm heading back to the hall.'

The houndoom left, while Karli leaned back on the fence again. She gazed out into to clouded sunset.

Back at the bus stop, where McGregor remained looking out, a weavile suddenly grunted loudly before crashing across a long puddle of murky water. He quickly rolled onto his feet, staring back at the braixen who tackled him. Beryl did not seem any happier than before, despite achieving his revenge. The action only made Terri chuckle, who looked up at the braixen seeming shocked.

'Beryl!' complained Angel.

'We're even.' replied Beryl, passing the wet weavile.

'Be careful man, I got my back wrecked a minute ago!'

The dusknoir was already watching when the braixen boy and cranidos stepped into the bus shelter, looking round for any of their friends. McGregor looked ahead again, when Terri looked to the massive ghost pokémon.

'U-um, excuse me.' stuttered Terri. 'Have you seen Karli?'

'She will be around.' he replied.

McGregor's words were not of much relief to Beryl and Angel who approached warily. The weavile remembered what he went through because of the dusknoir and immediately had one idea in mind to what might have happened.

'What did you do to her?' demanded Angel. 'Is she alive?'

Angel's last statement hit a nerve for McGregor, but he did well to hide it. 'I said, "she will be around". What about you three?'

'You mean me of course.' replied Angel, rubbing his back. Beryl placed his paw on the weavile's shoulder in attempt to hold him back, but he shrugged him off. 'I hope you didn't bust her back too, asshole.'

'Angel.' murmured Beryl.

The dusknoir looked to his left to see the weavile, who appeared tiny compared to him, yet Angel kept his brave and angered expression. 'It's Angel, isn't it?'

'Yes.' he answered.

'You have no need to get feisty. Karli outdone me, surprisingly. She has gone for a moment and will be around.' Angel looked over to Beryl and Terri, sharing a look of concern. 'That houndoom and Glim have gone to find her.'

'Are you still gonna take her home?'

McGregor paused. 'I would like to, but I will give her the choice. If best, I may be coming with her.'

'If so.' said Angel, angrily pointing at the giant before him. 'Know that I don't trust you.'

The dusknoir shook his head. 'I've heard much worse already.'

'Yeah Angel.' interjected Terri. 'Leave him be.'

Angel sulked, turning to leave, as did his companions.

'Angel.' spoke McGregor and the weavile stopped and glanced back. 'I want you to know, that I, trust you.' he said looking back at him, making Angel raise a more wary expression.

'Can I ask why?'

McGregor look ahead once more. 'It would be better if I did not.'

The weavile left feeling more suspicious about the dusknoir than he did before.

Treading up a gravely road, Glim bumped into Shadow, who was making his way down. The houndoom hugged his little glaceon, without any warning.

Seeming surprised, Glim also became a little worried. 'Did- how was Karli? Are you alright?'

'Yeah, I'm fine.' Shadow replied. 'I just feel so cold without you around, y'know?'

'I'm a glaceon.' Glim said dully.

Shadow chuckled. 'Well, yeah, but-'

'Wait.' Interrupted Glim, looking past Shadow. Nearby further up the hill, Karli descended, approaching the two boys. She remained silent however and passed them. 'Uh, Karli?'

The kirlia continued to walk. 'Yeah?'

Quickly the glaceon and houndoom ran to her side. 'Have you…' paused Shadow. 'Decided?'

'Sort of, yeah, no.' she shrugged, still quite angry.

'So no then.'

'Well, I'm going to Haine, that I'm sure of. As for my dad… I'm either going to get him going home or kick his ass again.'

'What, why?'

'I've managed to persuade him to come with us, Karli.' interjected Glim.

'I'm not believing that yet.' replied Karli. 'I'll never forget the lies he told me to get me to do what he wanted.'

The glaceon looked ahead again, remembering the times his brothers tricked him or his own father lied to him, when he made innocent wishes. Hopes were turned into depressions, when Glim would ask to leave the house or travel somewhere nice. Joys were turned into confusions, when his brothers would tell him to run somewhere and watch a clock until the big hand fully circled the face, which he fell for twice.

Minutes later, the three were met by Angel, Beryl and Terri, only a corner away from the village centre bus stop. The conversation did not last long. Angel was keen to help Karli in her personally difficult situation, and secretly so did Glim, but chose not intervene any further. The glaceon had already said what he wanted to say to the dusknoir, so when the group split up once more, he and Shadow went with Beryl, back to the village hall. Terri insisted to stay with Karli, even when Angel said otherwise, convinced there was going to be another fight. The little cranidos knew of that possibility, but wanted to help anyway, she felt she had to. Something about McGregor desiring to take Karli home was hurting Terri. The braixen, houndoom and his glaceon left in the opposite direction, leading to the scenic ring route back to the hall, so they would not get involved with Karli's second reunion, which could get fiery.

When Karli and her companions returned to the bus stop, the rain began to drizzle again, as the sky increasingly got darker and with no electricity to run the streetlights, due to the revolution, the bus shelter was getting barely visible. Due to the weather, Terri rushed under the shelter, while Angel and Karli shared a tense and cautious approach. The kirlia stopped and paused as soon as she entered the dry. She could see the ghost giant sitting dormant behind the post, where the seats circled.

'You know I'm here.' called Karli.

The dusknoir opened his eye. He was actually unaware of his daughter entering, since he was using his lonesome eye to sight something that was not the present. Instead of looking back, McGregor drifted forward, floating off the bench where he had sat. He paused awkwardly, waiting for Karli to give some stuck up remark or an angry statement. It was what she normally did.

'I was just…' paused McGregor. 'Well, you probably knew what I was doing.'

She did know, he was looking into the future, at least what was most likely timelines to happen. 'Dad. I'm going to Haine, and that's that. I'm-'

'But why? Why must you join a war that is beyond our region's control?'

'That, is one of my reasons dad! Crio is falling at the hands of our own government, because they've decided to wreck their own country and execute… whoever they want! Iris got raided, and I lost almost all my friends in that attack. Only Gina survived with me, and now she's dead too! I'm going to join the Crimson Revolution, because whether or not they succeed in overthrowing the prime minister, I can help much more than to be locked up by that ignorant, paranoid, big-mouthed mother of mine! …And if you're worried about me being on the front line. I'll try my best to avoid that. I would rather help survivors, even if it was to remain underground. I would rather be there, than back at Stephanotis. I would hate myself… and god knows what would happen if I was to get stared down those glaring fish-eyes again.'

The kirlia paused, tensing her hands, referring to her mother as 'fish-eyes' who always tried to look scary to her children, but was only naïve in herself. Just having that gardevoir in her head infuriated Karli.

'Then… at least, let me come with you. Because I don't want to return home without you. I would hate myself too.'

'This better not be a trick.'

'Karli, we just fought, and that was how we reunited. If it was any normal family, we would have died to see each other again. I'm not going to be able to forget that was what I decided when I reunited with my daughter. I get it, I've done terrible things to you, but let me make that up to you, for the both of us.' Karli paused, finally looking up at the big eye of McGregor, though she still had her serious complexion. The dusknoir held out his hand. 'We'll go together, okay? Maybe then I can pay attention to you, while we both save Crio.' he remained there, holding out his hand, while the kirlia, weavile and cranidos just paused. McGregor then whispered, as his voice began to crack 'have I been a good father to you?'

Hearing his voice in that state sent the kirlia into a spiral of emotions. She had never heard her mighty, gigantic father breakdown like that. The dusknoir was stretching himself, challenging his own actions and wanting to help, all for her. For once, Karli could not willingly resist him, as she slowly began to tear up.

'No…' she stuttered, nudging the big hand away. 'But… I can forgive you, if you can forgive me.'

'Oh Karli.' McGregor descended further, letting his daughter embrace him.

Nearby Angel was denying what he was seeing. He could not shake the feeling that McGregor was going to disappear, dragging Karli to wherever Stephanotis was, which was the most southern-west village in Crio. How Karli and her father overcame their differences only confused the weavile. It just did not feel right to him, like reading a children's story about family, which in his opinion, were totally inaccurate. Terri meanwhile was in awe, relieved she would not have to get between the two if they fought. She really wanted the father to understand the feelings of his daughter, something Terri failed to do with her own parents.

Night began to descend, with the crew getting barely any sleep. Even for an hour, some rest was needed to prepare them for the harsh trip across the river boarder and even getting into Haine itself. The problem, was the vast level of heat, wafting all across the hall. Not such a problem for fire or most dragon type pokémon, but it was causing great agitation for so many survivors, persuading them to wake up or stay up, which also meant it was getting noisy.

Angel decided to sleep outside, because it was cooler, only with a provided blanket, to help his back heal. McGregor also stayed outside, so he would not take up so much room. Though nobody knew where exactly they was going to sleep.

After the rough morning and travelling they did, Karli and Beryl were stressed to want a little rest. But Glim was sweating like an ice cream, frequently drinking the bottles of water he brought to his side, feeling the vast heat. On his side, only facing the bright orange and yellow tent, he was comfortable enough just being on top of the sleeping bag. Being inside it and he felt he would have literally melted. For the reason of the heat, Shadow was trying to sleep away from Glim, to let him not burn to death. It seemed though Karli felt the same, just opposite the glaceon. She was turning more than the other five sharing her tent, trying to get comfortable, but the blanket of heat, felt like a heater just constantly breathing into the tent. She was more interested when they would be leaving for Haine, even without any rest. The kirlia was so uncomfortable, she became restless. Karli looked over to Glim once more, whose breathing was visibly fast.

'Glim?' whispered Karli, in case he was asleep. Predictably, the little glaceon rolled back slowly. His crown and face was shining in his own sweat. 'Are you alright? You look roasting.'

'What time is it?' panted Glim, who then uncapped a new bottle and began hydrating himself.

The kirlia leaned back, looking for Angel's coat at first, only remembering that he left hours ago. She then poked her head out of the tent to see any of the clocks hung up. What she saw only made her sigh in annoyance, slumping onto her back.

'9pm-ish.' she said.

Glim also sighed, keen to leave the sweatbox he was in. It was not until midnight they were planning to leave, which was also when the village hall begins to quiet down for the night, while the nocturnal were to whisper whilst inside.

The kirlia, being on her back could see that the braixen at the back and the cranidos on the elevated bed were both sleeping fine. Terri was likely cold blooded, being a dinosaur-like pokémon, while Shadow and Beryl were fire types, meaning they were most likely comforted by the heat. At least more comfortable than Karli and Glim. Having enough of the heat, Karli reached out and grabbed her white dress and stood. She did not even put it on, and just wrapped it round her.

'I'm going out.' she whispered to Glim. 'See if I can get anymore sleep outside. You wanna come?'

'Yeah, definitely.' replied Glim, quickly standing up and tried to shake off his sweat without shaking himself too violently.

Karli and Glim left their tent to let Terri and Beryl get as much sleep as they could. Being outside the tent somehow seemed hotter to the kirlia. Perhaps it was because the glaceon she stood next to was acting as a natural air conditioner for the tent. Very quickly, while Glim carefully zipped up the tent entrance, Karli redressed herself, as a kirlia's traditional white ballerina dress was an easy one-piece to slip on.

'I am so hot,' whispered Glim, having to speak closely to Karli due to the noise of the hall. 'I managed to wet my bed without needing a wee.'

Karli giggled, which put a smile back on the little glaceon.

'They're… over here.' said Shadow.

Hours after they left, Karli and Glim were found sleeping together under a tree. The kirlia had her back against the tree, partly leaning upright, while the little glaceon, hogging most of the blanket was partly snuggled on her lap. The houndoom was calling Angel and McGregor over, who were still waiting for Terri and Beryl to leave. He was quick to nudge the two awake, a little jealous that Glim did not ask him to come out with them.

'Hey, hey! Wake up.'

Suddenly Karli leaned forward out of her sleep, shaking her head while she did, though she was clearly dizzy and half-asleep. The sleeping glaceon on her lap did not seem to bother her, even though the outside was freezing enough. The chilling breeze with a thick and heavy blanket felt more comfortable than sweating to death for Karli and Glim.

The sleepy glaceon was the next one to raise his head. His long diamond ears had no power to point upward at all. However his eyes weakly fluttered open, quickly realising that Shadow was calling to him and seemed a little unhappy. At first Glim felt that he was under attack, forcing him upon his feet, only to realise that he had been sleeping on Karli which after a few seconds of drowsy staring, made him aware of what his boyfriend may have been annoyed about. He glanced at the houndoom behind him with a flustered smile.

'Oh no, no!' stuttered Glim. 'It's not what you think!'

'Wait, what's going on?' said Karli, looking around her.

Shadow only shook his head and exhaled. 'Were you two out here 'cuz it was hot?'

'Wait, is it midnight already?' Karli asked, glancing at Shadow and Glim seeming surprised.

'Y-yeah,' said Glim, answering Shadow. 'We came outside because we just couldn't sleep.'

'Oh my god, yeah. It was so, damn, hot in there, Glim was turning into a vaporeon. And neither of us could sleep.'

'Well, get yourselves ready.' replied Shadow, looking back at the hall. 'We're leaving when your father gets Beryl and that other girl.'

'Terri.' Karli and Glim both answered.

'Yeah.'

'What the hell are they doing there!' said Angel from a distance, approaching the large tree. 'Yo! We're supposed to be hiding, remember! What if that "Martyr" thing was here? Or any of those Republic bastards?'

'We're fine!' complained Karli, as the weavile came passed the giant tree. 'And we were hiding… under this tree.'

The kirlia awkwardly stared at the two dark pokémon, who both shared a look of doubt and puzzlement. Realising her defence was terrible, Karli stood, folding up the blanket she had brought out, whilst brushing the dust and vegetation off her.

Angel looked at Shadow next to him. 'I was speaking to a survivor from Haine-'

'We're coming!' called Beryl, running from the village hall, with McGregor floating behind him and with Terri on his armoured right arm.

'Sorry what?' said Shadow, glancing back at Angel.

The weavile continued, pointing at the hall. 'I was saying that I spoke to a survivor, who had come from Haine. She said to avoid all bridges over the Mesprit river, at all costs. Apparently, they are armed to the fangs with Republic mercs.'

'Really?'

'Yeah, and she was the only one of her group to get here alive. She also said to go underground, if any of us reach Haine.'

'But, how're we going to cross the river?' asked Karli. 'They're not only huge, but freezing in this weather.'

'Glim and I will be able to swim.' replied Angel. 'But unless we can find a boat or something, a lot of you guys will either get blown up at the bridge, or freeze to death. Suggestions?' he asked, not really looking at anybody. By that time Beryl had arrived with McGregor and Terri.

'What're we doing?' asked Beryl.

'Tactics.' muttered Shadow, looking down in thought.

As the houndoom spoke, so did Angel. 'I got word that the bridge-boarders are shit dangerous, and… just thinking of ways to cross over to Acuity. Obviously, some you guys ain't swimming, or you'll die.'

'Are we able to distract the guards?' said Glim and immediately, Shadow and Angel were shaking their heads. 'I mean, if we had to cross a bridge.'

'They're not stupid.' interrupted Angel. 'Even if we got their attention and they didn't see us, they would only send some of their troops out. They'll never leave it unoccupied.'

'What about shadow sneaking?' said Karli, looking at her father. 'Can we cross water in shadow form?'

McGregor nodded. 'We could, but it would only take us so far, in fact, it could be more dangerous.'

'How?'

'Because shadows always stick to the ground, meaning we would be right at the bottom of the river, which I hear are very deep.'

'Would you be able to stay like that all the way over?' asked Shadow.

'I would hope so, but the river Mesprit is still roughly a mile wide.'

'Well, that's better than swimming all the way across.' said Angel. 'What about underground trains?'

'Why would they make train lines under the rivers?' asked Karli.

'I'm asking!'

'If the bridges are reinforced, then any underground route would probably be the same.' answered McGregor.

'Exactly.'

'Wait.' interrupted Glim. 'What if we were to create a bridge, or a boat?'

'Out of what, leaves?' argued Angel.

'No, ice.' Glim paused, with everyone just looking at each other, waiting for someone to yell objection. 'I mean… I can only use Icy Wind, but… Angel, can't you-'

'I've only got Ice Shard, if that's what we call it.'

'I can teach you how to use Ice Punch.' said McGregor. 'In fact.' he clenched his fist, which simultaneously froze up and rapidly grew icicles. 'I can do it myself.'

Angel nodded. 'Alright then, we'll freeze ourselves a boat or something, yeah?' the others nodded or replied with a yes, other than Terri, who remained asleep. 'Show me how you do that on the way.' he said to the dusknoir as he turned to leave.

One by one, the crew followed the weavile, who still clearly had difficulty in walking after his back injury. Still, he took the lead like some sergeant, unafraid to die. Glim had his houndoom by his side, while Karli attempted to tail Angel, but also persuade her father to hurry up. McGregor seemed more occupied in waking up Terri, who was still snuggled on the giant ghost in armour.

Beryl meanwhile caught up to walk by Glim and Shadow, afraid to be left behind. Of all the friends, he showed the most anticipation. While leaving Statice, the braixen would frequently look back. He knew that the most dangerous part of the revolution was on the very path he walked. His concern was readable by the houndoom near him, who asked if he was okay at one point, but Beryl ignored his fears and proceeded, knowing he preferred to stay out.

Route 16 was a very obscure journey to Haine, being one of five long country roads to Crio's capital, located at the top left of the Acuity county. To even get to the capital outside of its county, one would have to cross at least one of Crio's famous rivers that snakes around the outskirts of the city. River Mesprit was considered the border between Verity and Acuity, while river Uxie which Mesprit joins onto much further south was used as the border between Acuity and Valor, where Glim's journey had started. Unlike the two very long lakes that skirt around the capital, there is a lonely small river that branches off at Crio's most centre point, which heads north, eventually splitting into the V-channel. The small river before the freezing channel is river Azelf, being the smallest border between the Valor and Verity counties.

Almost two hours had passed by the time the crew began to even hear the river Mesprit, it was surprisingly quiet. The journey itself was a long walk, but that seemed to be the worst of it. The creepy dark grey sky remained as haunting as ever, while the country they forged all down the route was merely silent of any living noises. All that was in earshot was the lonesome breeze, the trees nudging into each other and the frequent bickering of Angel and whoever he was talking to.

'Does anyone,' paused Angel, hitting away branches as they continued creeping through some woods. 'See or hear any border?'

'We can't see shit, Angel.' replied Shadow. 'And we're dark types.'

'We have travelled far off the path.' interjected McGregor. 'So it's best if we cannot.'

'That's why I'm asking.' said Angel. 'I can hear the river, but I don't know how active the current is right now, which also means I don't know how close it is.'

'Well just keep walking until you fall into it.' suggested Karli.

'Shut up.'

Moments later, the weavile passed through taller blades of grass, before suddenly slipping down and creating a loud splash.

'Whoa, Angel!' called Shadow.

Angel quickly glanced back to grab onto the bushy edge which he slipped off. The houndoom who was behind him quickly approached to help him up as he held onto the grass.

'I found Mesprit.' said the soaked weavile, trying to pull himself out, but due to his condition, his strength was lacking. In the end, Shadow had to bite down onto his coat collar and pull him out of the water.

When he was high enough, Karli also assisted with Angel getting back onto his feet, while Shadow let go gladly, wiping his mouth as he did. 'Oh god, that water is freezing!'

The river before them was just as dark as the country behind them. All that was visible to the crew other than Angel, Shadow and McGregor, was the dark grey tint of the night sky.

'Is this where you'll make that boat?' asked Karli.

'Yeah, yeah, hold on. Let me try it.' answered Angel, getting up and looking down the river.

'Oh wait, weavile!' sputtered McGregor glancing at Angel.

While Karli moved back to check on Glim, Beryl and Terri, the weavile tightly clenched his fist, forcing it to freeze up, creating icicles as McGregor demonstrated earlier. Immediately however, all the water that soaked into his coat and around his body simultaneously froze up at an instant, releasing a faint mist that used to be warm air. Angel grunted in surprise as his entire body became an icy cactus.

'Whoa! What just happened?' asked Shadow, looking around, unable to see Angel.

The dusknoir nearby slowly spun away, placing his big hand over his face.

Glim, Beryl and Terri meanwhile picked up the pace when Karli quietly called out to them. The braixen was at the front of them, using his wand as a light, guiding them through the pitch black woods. The kirlia then signalled for Beryl to extinguish his light, so they would not be seen.

'Oh my fucking god.' moaned Angel, while McGregor looked back at the still weavile. 'Are you kidding me!'

'Glim, we're going to make the boat here, come on.' asked Karli, having difficultly seeing Angel.

'Guys… I've just frozen myself!'

'What?' called Shadow and Karli.

The houndoom had sniff what appeared to be a statue next to him, which confirmed to him that Angel was completely coated in thick ice all around his body, except for his head. The weavile was stood like he was in some battle stance, still clenching his fist and unable to move.

'What- how the hell?' asked the very confused houndoom.

'Are you serious?' approached Karli, puzzling. 'How'd you managed to do that?'

'W-well- I-I fell in the water remember!' replied Angel, angrily. 'I tried to freeze my- and I think it froze up all the water I had on me!'

Before Angel could even finish, Karli broke down in hilarity and laughing into her hands. Her muffled hysteria also got Shadow chuckling.

A little late to the situation, Glim and Beryl seemed confused as the braixen felt the need to light his wand, desperate to know why Karli was laughing so uncontrollably. In one wave, a small flame glowed, difficult to see from a distance, yet revealing the weavile who remained solid in the stance he took when practicing to use Ice Punch. Angel himself was looking toward Beryl and those behind him with daggers for eyes.

'I-I tried to warn you.' said McGregor. Angel sighed as the dusknoir looked back to Glim who approached, worried for the frozen weavile. McGregor signalled Beryl next to the glaceon to put out the light. 'Okay Glim, we'll have to do it together.'

'But I can't use attacks that freeze things so well. At least, not as well as that.' he replied, glancing at Angel.

'You may not have to. You can make Icy Wind right?' Glim nodded. 'That can help me make the raft and spread the range of the freezing. Water in this temperature freezes quickly.'

'O-okay.'

The dusknoir took one last look down the river and could only see the same pitch blackness as before, as if the bridge they intended to avoid was already destroyed or perhaps left unlit to hide itself from anyone attempting a crossing during the night. With the river running as quiet as it was, the dark grassland where they stood felt as though they were in a void, separated from their world.

McGregor approached the very edge of the land, able to teeter over it for being a ghost that supports his own weight and floats slightly. He then tilted downward and punched the calm river, rapidly freezing up his hand as he did. Glim, just next to him was expecting to hear a loud splash, instead he hears a thick 'whump', followed by rapidly crackling as the water began to grow into ice.

'Glim, Icy Wind.' reminded McGregor.

The glaceon jolted, before blowing his icy breath at McGregor's hand, unsure how high the water was in that darkness, as he could only hear its oddly relaxing rippling. He could not see it, but the wind that stroked along the water past McGregor's fist slowly grew into a flat, oval-shaped iceberg. The dusknoir said 'blow harder', making Shadow chuckle as Glim took another breath to continue. McGregor looked like he was just leaving his fist in the water, but he was resisting to jitter, feeling the ice crawl up his arm as the water was immensely cold.

Beryl approached and crouched on the opposite side of McGregor, feeling the need to show them what they are doing by drawing out his wand again. The tiny light revealed the isle of ice to be surprisingly big by then, but also Glim could see the case of ice he had formed on McGregor's arm. Immediately he stopped.

'Whoa, whoa.' cried the glaceon, taking steps back from the dusknoir.

'Keep going Glim.' McGregor insisted.

'Whoa, dad.' interjected Karli, coming passed Glim and holding her father by his shoulder.

'I'm fine.' he replied, suddenly breaking his arm free of the ice.

The ice structure that remained afloat was long and spiky, influenced by the freezing wind Glim had exhaled. Under Beryl's light, some of the crew frowned, the iceberg did not look terribly comfortable, in fact dangerous since a lot of the surface pointed upward like spikes. McGregor meanwhile, repetitively shook his hand, flinging the ice off him.

'A certain blue sandslash would disagree with this idea Glim.' said Angel.

'Is there anything we can do about those spikes?' asked Karli.

'Yeah, hold on.' said the dusknoir, grabbing the isle of ice and pulling it into the reeds of the grassland edge, almost pulling it onto the land. 'Just hit'em off.'

McGregor quickly began hitting the icicles away, Karli and Glim joined afterwards. The braixen meanwhile held his light above the vessel so his friends could see all the icy spears, all of which were easy to break off. The finished result appeared to be a long floating slab with an uneven top half, very bumpy and jarred. It was as comfortable as it was going to get, because the ice would eventually melt and with that in mind, the little glaceon was the first to leap onto the raft. For once he seemed a little rash, telling his friends it would not last long in water.

'Right, everyone on, quick.' commanded Karli, poorly climbing onto the freezing raft of ice.

The kirlia almost slipped off before balancing herself by sitting down. Beryl would have been the next to climb on, but before he even began climbing McGregor grabbed him with one arm, while he had Terri in the other. He then lifted the both of them onto the ship and they took the same position as Karli, sitting just behind her. There was a lot of space, but there was also a lot of them, seven in total.

'Beryl, put out that light.' said McGregor, while the dusknoir moved aside for Shadow to climb on.

'Not until you guys get on.' replied Beryl, holding his light back.

Shadow climbed on, but being much bigger than his friends in front of him, his feet slipped, causing him to belly flop onto the ice, while his legs were spread down the sides of the iceberg. He grunted and panicked slightly, fearing he would slip into the freezing river. To keep himself still and steady, he held onto the braixen who was sitting behind the rest of the crew.

'Shit that's cold.' Shadow muttered.

'Whoa hey,' cried Angel, as McGregor was lifting him off the ground, still frozen in his posture. 'What the hell are you doing!'

'Getting you on board,' he replied, carrying the motionless weavile on his shoulder. 'We need some weight at the front, or we'll sink.'

The dusknoir leaned over the boat as far as he could, allowing Beryl and Karli to hold Angel over to Glim at the front, who struggled to keep him still on his feet. Being as still as a statue, the weavile was easy to keep still, but his unique frozen condition made him much more slippery and heavier. Worse still, Angel had his legs slightly spread out when he froze himself, the glaceon had to turn him to stand sideways.

By the time Glim had position Angel right, McGregor had taken the last little space at the back, squashing himself behind the houndoom and forcing him to float as much as he could. The giant ghost was ready to propel the raft, by pushing against the land, however something was needed first.

'Beryl, light.'

'Okay.' replied the braixen, wavering his wand, putting out the light.

'Here we go.'

None of the other friends on board could really propel the vessel across from where they sat, so McGregor had to give the strongest push he could muster. The floating ice began to drift quick enough for Glim and Angel to feel the light breeze, which became very short lived. The raft began to slow down already and the dusknoir only just managed to get himself onto the raft without falling into the water himself.

'Great,' said Angel. 'First I fall into the water, then I freeze myself and now I'm a fucking hood ornament.'

'Are we going to make it?' asked Karli, looking down at the pitch black water.

'Y-yeah, I think we're not moving.' added Glim.

'Aw you're joking.' sulked Shadow. 'Can anyone-'

'Anybody wanna paddle?' joked Karli.

The glaceon's ears sprung up. 'Oh, I could. I mean the cold water's not going to kill me if I swim.'

The kirlia looked back for her father, who she assumed to be thinking about Glim's proposal.

'Yes, do it.' answered McGregor.

Glim easily slipped into the water from the right side of the ice. The water was surprisingly calm, despite it was a little noisy when they first encountered river Mesprit. The current was difficult for the glaceon to feel and though it was cold, it was not nearly as cold as the water he was forced into by Martyr at the V-channel coast. He swam to the side which McGregor was sitting, who patted the edge of the vessel, signalling Glim where to prod. The glaceon forced his diamond crown and paws against the ice, as he began to paddle violently which slowly propelled the raft.

Angel's view down the river where the bridge would be several miles away, was pitch black. The river seemed so lonesome and eerie. It also made not only him, but some of his friends to fear something to be in the water. It only took an old fishing rod to find out.

Glim was getting tired and was constantly fearing that something underwater would suddenly pull him down, but then relief as the raft suddenly came to stop, passing through weeds and mud. Karli exclaimed and moved onto her knees as the boat sputtered and came to a stop. Beryl and Shadow, still holding tightly to the ice were also getting excited to get off.

'I'm tipping I'm tipping!' shouted Angel falling forward. Karli tried to catch him, but only scraped her hand against his claw and the frozen weavile face-planted in the cold soggy mud.

Karli giggled guiltily, apologising for not catching him and stood into the mud, while Terri waddled off, slipping down the front and onto the grass. Beryl and Shadow were a little more careful as the ice was fairly narrow by that time and they really did not want to fall in the freezing water. McGregor meanwhile shadow sneaked onto the grass on Angel's right, so he could help the kirlia help him up.

'Oh thank god.' sighed Shadow, looking for his glaceon. 'Glim?'

The weavile was lifted up onto his feet, still frozen in his stance and with his face entirely covered in mud, seeing it made Karli giggle more, while her father tried to wipe the mud off, so Angel could breathe.

'I've had worse days.' muttered Angel, as soon as his mouth was free of mud.

McGregor looked round for Beryl, knowing braixen are stereotypically enthusiastic groomers. 'Beryl, would you mind getting this mud off? I'm not much of a groomer.' he said, lifting Angel onto the grass.

By that time, Glim was out of the water, just behind Karli, who was getting out of the mud. The glaceon followed close behind her and Shadow waited with a smile.

'Jeez this mud is freezing.' said Karli.

'I'm not a lover of mud,' said Beryl awkwardly, as he licked his paws. 'Any leaves?'

McGregor looked left to right. 'Well… all around us.'

'Hold on,' interrupted Terri. 'I'll get some!'

The young cranidos waddled blindly in the opposite direction of river Mesprit, so she would not fall in accidentally. She and Glim nearby noticed the silhouette of the gigantic blades of grass ahead of them. It meant they were at the miles of swamp just between the river boarder and the capital city of Haine.

'Here Angel,' said Beryl, drawing out his wand and lighting it up. 'Hold this.'

'Beryl, I can't- did you just put your wand in my claw?'

The weavile's left claw, which was frozen unclenched had enough room to hold Beryl's special wand for him.

'Well yeah,' answered Beryl. 'I need to see wh-'

'Kinky!' blurted Shadow, immediately making Karli, McGregor and Beryl erupt in laughter.

'Oh shut up!' cried Angel.


	15. A satanic wish for peace

Chapter 15:  
'A satanic wish for peace'

* * *

The sky remained black, only slightly lighter than the dark swampy wasteland that stretched between river Mesprit and the capital. All the light that was visible was the faint blood-red glow, beaming over the sky in the south direction. They could not see it yet, but Glim and his friends knew their first look at Haine was going to be chilling. The only reason they could not see it, were the tall blades of grass, stretching much higher than them, as if willingly shielding their eyes from the sight of the capital city.

Despite the earthy, cold and muddy swamp, there was no smell at all. No scent of freshness, clean air plants or anything. All Glim could smell was just air and the faint pheromones from his friends. It was so noticeable and uncomfortable, like everything around him was dead, except death has its own stench. What he was sniffing was just nothingness.

By that time, Angel's long coat and muddy legs had defrosted from his accident, though his coat was still very stiff and wet. Of course, he wiped off the mud from his legs himself, though Beryl was kind enough to help him clean up, but like most braixen, he was reluctant to touch anymore mud.

Nobody was talking, just following Angel in a single line, while McGregor tailed them and keeping watch over the crew. It was a stealthy suggestion by the weavile to remain quiet since they left Statice, but even before they reached the river boarder, there was at least whispering. The little glaceon thought perhaps it was something to do with the swamp that was depressing everyone. It only got as noisy as hearing a pack of people walking through a soggy wetland infested by rustling grass. At one point Glim lightly gasped as he felt something wet touch his bottom, he glanced back, only to see his affectionate houndoom smiling in an apologetic way.

Minutes later, the seven friends climbed out of the swamp and onto level ground. Suddenly the entire horizon ahead of them was very different, without the shield of the tall grass. Stretching before them was the forsaken capital of Haine. It looked like something from an artist's abstract painting of hell. The remaining grassland, most of the sky and many of the buildings on Haine's northern continent were pitch black, but also lit up on fire or by the very frequent lighting storms and explosions.

Most of Haine's upper level, where the richer or political pokémon would reside was mostly intact, but its black silhouette was visible due to the reoccurring flames an explosions. It was a wonder how the supports holding the entire structure up were still there with all the forces discharging all around the ground level of the city. It seemed that no one dared to go above the upper level, not with the infamous Storm Walk well above it. One look up and Glim could see the array of lights, which were the many aircrafts that remained afloat, housing the forces of the dragon raids.

The sight gave Glim a stroked, freezing him further than he already was. The glaceon was not alone, Terri and Beryl took a step back, almost falling back into the swamp. McGregor looked over at his daughter, hoping she would have a change of heart, now that she had seen the condition of Crio's revolution. Karli however only showed determination, taking a deep breath, but she would not deny she was nervous if she was asked, it would be less sane to say otherwise. Shadow meanwhile stood by his glaceon and wrapped his tail around his, letting Glim know he was with him.

Angel was probably the only one fit enough to enter Haine, not because of his aching back or ruined coat, but because he felt he had nothing to lose. He was the first to carry on, taking a slight left turn. His expression was fearless, but inside, his mind repeatedly flashed images of his rescuing of Belle and her death. Meeting Karli and her friends, finding that most of them were killed in Iris' dragon raid. Seeing the carnage of Hydrangea city, seeing the homeless refugees of Statice and the cinccino he could not help. It was all too much sometimes, making him flinch and shake his head violently, like he wanted it all out of his head.

'A-Angel wait up!' said Karli, only noticing he left. 'Where're we going?'

'The tracks, remember?' he replied.

'Oh.'

'We will not be able to get into Haine from this level or any of the above, so we're going under.'

The weavile marched on, while Karli kept glancing back at the still crew looking at one another. The giant dusknoir eyed Angel and the tracks that were barely visible in the distance. McGregor then took a deep breath as he also looked at the crew to his right.

Shadow whispered to Glim 'It'll be alright sweetheart, I'm with you.'

Glim nodded sheepishly.

Beryl meanwhile was getting second thoughts, completely paralysed by what he was seeing. The main level of Haine looked like a highly active warzone and to think it was only the morning, it all seemed too daunting to dare entering. His warm fur began to point backward, somehow telling him to run away, but as much as he wanted to, he did not want to abandon his friends. So he stood, staring into a hell made real, until something small and cold slipped into his left claw. It was the little claw of Terri, who was also unnerved by the same sight. The braixen looked down at her, unsure what to think or if he should say anything.

'Come on guys.' said Shadow, glancing at Terri and Beryl and moving passed McGregor with Glim following close behind.

Only half a mile away, Angel found himself behind a chain-link fence, which stretched all along the desolate swarm of train tracks on the other side. The tracks appeared battered in the faint light of fire in the distance. Clearly there had been fights on them, judging by the dents, broken rails, there was even a derailed train locomotive and carriage further down the line. Looks like the train was used in an attempt to escape, which was only blocking the railways.

Moments later, Shadow and Glim arrived behind the weavile, who was still observing the dark mess of railroads, heading into four different tunnels. All of the tunnels were pitch black from where they stood, which was hundreds of yards away.

'Angel,' said Glim quietly. 'Is that-'

'Shut up!' whispered the weavile, staring and listening intently toward the tunnels. It seemed there was nothing there and the only noises audible were the ongoing explosions and demolition of the revolution of the city before them. 'Okay, I can't see anybody over there, but stay on guard.'

Just as Angel finished, he leaped up, climbing the fence. By that time Karli also caught up.

'We going in there?' she asked and Glim nodded.

McGregor caught up just afterwards, looking back for Beryl and Terri, who were not far behind. The dusknoir looked ahead to see Angel landing hard on the other side, almost crashing whilst making little noise. Karli just afterwards approached the fence, keen to follow the weavile.

'Um, Karli.' said McGregor.

'Yeah?' she replied, glancing back at her father.

'I'd rather you shadow sneaked through the fence.'

At first, Karli looked up for razor wire, seeing nothing and observed the ground behind the fence, which appeared flat and far enough away from the thick metal tracks.

'Why?'

'Well, I just would not prefer the gentlemen here to see up your dress.' he said, but Karli rolled her eyes and leaped up, climbing the fence. 'Wha-'

The dusknoir sighed, looking down and shaking his head. Glim and Shadow averted their eyes respectfully, though the houndoom could not help but grin. The kirlia's climb over did not last long as she was over no more than ten seconds. Her landing however, was considerably quieter and elegant. McGregor meanwhile simply went through it, almost showing off.

By that time, the braixen and cranidos had caught up, but the houndoom on four stern legs was debating how he would get over. The glaceon next to him jumped onto the fence, being light and nimble enough to climb it, but he stayed hanging on it, looking back at his boyfriend.

'How the hell am I…' muttered Shadow. 'Yo, Angel. How are Glim and I supposed to get over? I can't climb this.'

The weavile looked back and answered 'you can dig, you can jump, you can find a hole. Fuck sake, it's a chain-linked fence bitchdoom.'

Shadow looked left and right. 'Alright, alright. Would we be spotted if I used Flamethrower?'

'Probably.' replied Angel looking around, just when the houndoom on the other side breathed in swiftly and breathed out a dynastic stream of fire, making Karli and Angel flinch. The weavile looked at Shadow in shock, taking steps back from the blazing beam of light and grabbing his own head in frustration. 'You idiot!' he shouted through clenched teeth.

'What?'

'I said "probably" and you did it anyway!'

Glim who was on top of the fence when Shadow used his move had fallen off, crashing on the soft gritty surface. He squeaked quietly, and Karli ran over to help him up.

'We needed to get through,' argued Shadow, climbing cumbersome through the fence. 'And there doesn't seem to be anyone here right now.'

'I hope not!' replied Angel, looking back at the tunnels.

Once the houndoom was on his feet on the tracks, Beryl went through the same hole, turning round to lift little Terri through as well. The group had all come through or over the fence and on the wide road of broken railways. With the overturn locomotive and two carriages almost blocking off the railways behind them, the crew headed to the city's underground level.

There were four enormous tunnels, two neighbouring each other, presumably going to the centre of the city, while the other two on opposite ends were much further apart. The tunnels on the far left and right were at an angle, heading to outer continents of the underground level, or even heading up to the ground level.

The ground was incredibly uneven and rocky. The tracks were either misplaced, sticking into the ground or gone. Angel was unnerved, looking at every debris warily. It was obvious to him there had been fights where they walked.

'Wait.' whispered McGregor, glancing back. Suddenly Angel, Glim, Shadow and Karli turn their backs to each other. 'I thought I heard something.'

When the dusknoir finished his sentence, all at once they found their selves surrounded by three different crews that came from adjacent directions. A golurk and an armoured talonflame landed hard from above, taking opposite sides, while two excadrill shot out of the ground, one behind McGregor who was at the back, and one near Shadow who forced him to back closer to his friends. From the tracks they just left, two sandshrew, a scrafty and a heracross stood, bursting out of debris that poorly hid them. The tunnels meanwhile had a baltoy, a vibrava coming out of the far left tunnel, while a gabite and a vikavolt zipped out of the far right.

The ambush was so quick, that most of the crew panicked, bunching closer to one another. Karli had leaped back, bumping into Terri and her father, Glim flinched, looking around in confusion, while his houndoom barked at the excadrill before him. Beryl meanwhile seemed to not panic and just raised his claws innocently. However, Angel nearby the braixen only took one look around him and glared at the tunnels past the levitating vibrava and baltoy. He could see an opportunity he and his crew were not going to get again.

'Freeze!' yelled the excadrill closest to Beryl and Karli.

'Down on the ground!' squawked the talonflame, holding his position above the group.

As much as the braixen, cranidos and glaceon wanted to surrender, so no one would get hurt, they had no idea if they were revolutionaries or part of the Republic. Instead, most of them stood motionless, while Beryl remained showing that he meant no harm.

In the heat of the situation, the weavile up front saw everything in slow motion, seeing the ambush closing in quickly with hostility. He could hear Karli and Shadow shouting, stating they were just outsiders. He had to make the tough decision of taking the opportunity before him, as the baltoy and sandy dragonfly approached him aggressively. Angel looked back, to see Terri cowering, covering her eyes, while McGregor was getting confrontation from the golurk who was even bigger than him. The dusknoir however, was not looking at the towering ancient pokémon, he was turning to face the weavile on the other side. Angel inhaled, somewhat shocked to see McGregor who nodded at him. He could only assume that the responsible dusknoir was agreeing with the opportunity that sprung to his mind.

The weavile looked ahead again, seeing the vibrava about to swoop into him, which was when he executed his last resort. With nothing to lose, Angel swiftly hurled ice at the vibrava, ignoring the pain in his back and causing her to spiral and fall to the ground. As if he was using two moves at once, the weavile bolted toward the baltoy who was low enough for him to jump over and give it a back blow with his fist covered in ice, managing to not freeze himself that time.

Immediately, when the smacks of shattering ice hit the vibrava and baltoy, everybody present saw the movement before the two ground types even fell to the ground. Angel then hurled another Ice Shard perfectly at the gabite in front of Beryl, getting him in the neck and knocking him on his back. The braixen gasped and flinched seeing it.

'Leg it!' screamed Angel, sprinting for the closest tunnel, which was the far left tunnel for him.

'What the f-' cried Karli as McGregor quickly turned, grabbing her and Terri and sinking into the ground.

'Halt!' screamed the talonflame, swiftly gliding into the tunnel after the weavile.

In the panic Shadow roared out, blasting fire at the excadrill and steering it left in an attempt to force the other pokémon back. The golurk however, was merely a wall to the houndoom as most of the ambushers dived for cover behind the giant. Reacting in a similar way, the braixen nearby drew out his wand and beamed fire in front of him, forcing the other excadrill and vikavolt back. Glim meanwhile fired his beam of rainbows at the levitating stag beetle that began to charge visible electricity. The bug was forced back, dodge rolling out of the glaceon's attack.

Unaware of what happened to Karli, McGregor and Terri or even how many of the ambushers were present, Glim yelled 'let's go', running past Beryl who tailed him. The excadrill near the braixen was not giving up, he leaped into the air, diving for Beryl when he was met with a tremendous force of flames from the houndoom who quickly followed them into the far right tunnel. Leaving the excadrill to crash into the wall of the tunnel, yelling and on fire.

Already deep into the darkness, the three boys ran as fast as they could but keeping to each other's side, convinced they were being chased. None of them looked back even once, only left and right to listen out for each other as it frequently got pitch black in the tunnels, passing few fires and flickering lights as they ran.

* * *

Glim, Shadow and Beryl may have escaped, but in the tunnel opposite the one they entered, Angel had already ran a mile, attempting to lose the fiercely fast talonflame that was managing to keep up with him. The weavile would jump through broken pillars and neighbouring tunnels when he had the chance, however the fiery bird was also intensely acrobatic. Every sudden leap left or right was a simple side aileron roll for the talonflame. He was tempted to use his gale wings, but it would require him to stop and the weavile was as drastically quick as he was. Drawing on Angel closer and closer frustrated him more, they were both in desperation for the race to end.

In yet another tunnel, much longer than the messy, broken tunnels they had just ran through, Angel anticipated the persistent bird to still be on his tail. Having seen the shapes of the tunnels all being round, the weavile ran up along the wall until he was almost upside down. The pursuing bird knew what Angel was doing and made a manoeuvre where he was gliding away from him, slightly slower and arced upward as soon as Angel looked back and leaped with gravity on his side. The talonflame attempted to use Flame Charge, but was not quick enough, resulting them colliding in mid-air, with the weavile striking the bird on his head. The impact also bounced Angel out of balance and further into the air, leaving him to crash on the stony ground. Neither of them were in great condition in their situation, but with an injured back already, the weavile wailed out, fighting himself just to get back up. However, the fiery bird had an assault vest to brake his fall.

Metres from the struggling weavile, the talonflame stood dizzily. It only took moments for him to fully regain consciousness as he got close to passing out. Steaming blood trickled down his face and beak, sealing one eye closed and he focused on Angel, who was crawling away. After several deep breaths, the talonflame fought back his light headedness and leaped closer, tripping as he landed only three metres away from his target.

Angel rolled onto his back, only realising he failed to kill the talonflame. In the little strength he had left, he threw a shard of ice at the slowly approaching bird, who was taking it like nothing, only making him angrier. The talonflame in armour began to heat up as he got closer, walking more steadily, while Angel furiously threw ice at him, which only began to turn into dust as the bird shielded his face with his huge wings.

When the furious bird was right before the incapacitated weavile, he stretched out his right wing attempting to swing at Angel, who managed to block the finishing attack with his left arm, getting them into a fiery grapple. Unable to move his legs, Angel resorted to using whatever dark type attack he had left, making his left arm glow black and scratching the talonflame on his face. The attack knocked him over, but still conscious, while Angel's arm was burning from blocking his attack. Every part of the weavile's body burned, from his legs, his back and his arm. He could only endure as the fiery bird got up once more, squawking in rage, also having difficulty in getting up.

Suddenly, the bird was struck by some projectile hard and heavy, which knocked him onto his back and became still and silent. The weavile watched in dizziness and tried to roll over to see who else was present, but he was stopped by slimy hands and the sound of something very heavy approaching behind him.

'Easy buddy.' said a voice of a butch female. At that moment, Angel closed his eyes as the two began to drag him away. 'That was pretty amazing what you did back there.'

'What're you doing?' asked the other, who sounded so much deeper and masculine. 'How do you know if he's one of us?'

'He just fought off an ambush squad, trying to get in. Nobody, no Republic nor citizen would ever wanna get into this shit hole unless they wanted to fight.'

'I hope you're right.'

* * *

Between the distance of Angel and the boys who took the tunnel opposite, a dusknoir began to rise from the ground far in pitch blackness. His eye was squinting, trying to resist himself as he continued to stride through the floor.

'That's it I can't Shadow Sneak any further!' grunted McGregor.

Karli peeked her head out of the shadows. 'Then let us-'

Suddenly the dusknoir, kirlia and cranidos burst out of the ground from the shadows that glinted purple. The force made them lose balance, Terri fell on her face and McGregor crashed on his front, catching himself poorly. Karli was the only one to land on her feet, glancing round in the darkness as she did.

'Where is everybody?' asked Karli.

McGregor lifted himself up and helped up Terri as he did. 'Likely split up. We had to get out of there quick.'

The kirlia shook her head. 'What the hell was Angel thinking? He just left us!'

'Actually Karli, I had foreseen this event.'

'You did? But why didn't you tell me?'

'In case I was mistaken, or you would try to stop him. What Angel did back there was not only allow his escape, but also the others. As far as I know.'

'You didn't see them in the vision?'

'Not when Angel made his escape, but I did see them in another vision, alive.'

'So where are they now?'

'That I do not know. We had to act fast, which is why we ended up down one of the middle tunnels.'

Karli sighed, looking down the tunnel, where weak light from a dying fire showed what she assumed to be an underground platform.

'We need to find them. We're too unsafe apart. I saw Angel run down that left tunnel so we know where to start.'

'Agreed, he was on his own and being pursued by that talonflame.'

'Then let's go!'

Karli ran ahead, looking left as frequently as she could for any path way or tunnel.

'Shouldn't we head back?' cried Terri, only running fast enough to run alongside McGregor. 'We could take the same tunnel that way.'

'That is if that ambush is not still there,' he replied. 'Which judging by their numbers, I would not recommend it.'

The little cranidos did not reply and just continued running to catch up with Karli.

* * *

Shadow slid to stop, glancing back. 'Whoa wait!' immediately Glim stopped and also glanced back, while Beryl continued to run, until he passed the houndoom and looked back himself. 'I don't think they're chasing us.'

The glaceon interrupted, worriedly. 'Where is everybody?'

'I-I don't know. I thought Karli and the others would follow us.'

Glim took one leap toward the blackness they had come from and looked back at the houndoom and braixen. 'We have to go back!'

'What!' cried Beryl breathing heavily.

Shadow too had a look of puzzlement on his face, though he understood Glim's feelings.

'We have to know if they escaped!' cried Glim stamping his paws.

Shadow and Beryl took a moment and looked at each other.

'You coming?' the houndoom asked.

After a little more breathing, the braixen looked down and shook his head. 'O-okay.'

The glaceon quickly ran ahead, not as quickly as before and Shadow followed, looking back at Beryl who also gave chase after a few more breaths.

Even though they slowed their pace, Glim, Shadow, followed by Beryl reached near the end of the tunnel they had ran from, feeling they went much quicker somehow. Perhaps because they were not running for their lives, that the speed of reality caught up to them.

Being the darkest in colour overall, the houndoom volunteered to peek into the spot where they were ambushed, so they were less likely to be spotted. He did not even go right up to the edge of the round concrete tunnel, instead he took a few steps from within the tunnel to remain in the darkness.

All Shadow could see were what looked like a struggle, between the heracross trying to help his excadrill ally. The golurk was also present, holding the other excadrill who was groaning in pain. They were all complaining, either shouting to get going or blaming each other. The houndoom drew back, looking over at the glaceon and braixen, who were up against the wall.

Shadow shakes his head. 'They're not there.' he whispers.

Glim nods in relief and runs down the tunnel again, quickly followed by Shadow and Beryl. However, his relief turns to worry, wondering where his friends could have gone to. He knows Angel went down the tunnel opposite, but where Karli, her father and Terri could be, he did not know.

* * *

Angel's sight blurred, revealing himself to be laying on a thin spread of hay. Unaware he just passed out, he got up suddenly, thinking he was still in a fight with the talonflame.

'Whoa, whoa!' called a deep voice, who stood before the weavile and put his claws over his shoulders. 'Easy soldier!'

The pokémon stopping Angel from getting up revealed to be a golem, who had friends present. Also holding the weavile down was a weaker smaller leaf of a leavanny.

'What the f- he's up already?' called the butch voice of Gem, running to join her friends, who were managing to keep the feisty weavile down.

Angel took a moment to observe, breathing heavily. By that time his vision had cleared and realised he was no longer in the fight he was running from. In front of him were the golem and leavanny with concerned expressions. They both had black and red scarves on, the golem had his around his neck like a rider's mask and the leavanny had hers around her right shoulder. Behind them approached a toxicroak who had her scarf around her neck too, except hers was spun backward to not irritate her poison sack, protruding from her neck.

'Take it easy, you're safe now.' continued Marcus, gently releasing the grip on Angel's shoulders. 'We have one question though.' the golem placed his foot over Angel's torso, forcing his weakened back to take some of Marcus' sheer weight.

Immediately Angel grunted, struggling to get the golem off him. Kylie the leavanny was also quick to object, gasping as she saw the 'megaton' pokémon place his foot on him.

'No, no!' she squeaked. 'Get off- he's already injured!'

Marcus just shushed the slender plant and bug hybrid, as he was not putting all his weight on the weavile.

'We want to know why you're here. Are you fighting for Crio or for yourself?'

'I'm here to join the Crimson!' Angel finally shouted.

'Ha!' boasted Gem, pointing at the golem. 'Told you so, he's one of us.'

Kylie interrupted, slapping her leaves on Marcus' leg. 'Get off, get off him, he's one of us!' The very heavy dinosaur shelled within a boulder quickly relented, taking his foot off Angel. 'He's also hurt his back too.'

'We saw- well I saw what you did for your friends back there.' said Gem 'That was not something most outsiders survive, let alone a head on fight with their squadron leader, mate.'

While the leavanny knelt down next to Angel, the weavile's eyes opened widely, remembering about his crew. He tried to sit up, only to be met with great pain harnessing his torso, back and collarbones.

'My friends!' he choked, trying to look back. 'Did any of them come after me?'

'Come after you?' replied the toxicroak. 'Dude, you legged it. If a talonflame couldn't catch you, your friends sure weren't.'

Angel paused, still trying to look back as Kylie glowed green, using Aromatherapy. He then looked back at the toxicroak. 'Did any of them escape?'

She nodded. 'From what I saw, I'd say all of them got away. Your hits allowed that houndoom and other two out of there. The other way though, while the others behind them just disappeared into the ground.'

The weavile did not quite understand what she was saying, but hearing that they all got away was enough for him. The leavanny continued to glow green as Angel attempted to sit up, much less painfully that time. Kylie offered her leafy hand, which when the sharp claw pokémon took hold of her, turned out to be far stronger than she appeared. In fact, the slender grassy insectoid was using another technique that made Angel's entire body glow slightly, somehow making him strong enough to stand back up again. When the weavile stood, he looked surprised and a little light headed, as the leavanny kept her leaf hand on Angel's shoulder.

'You took some serious damage.' said Kylie. 'You'll have to stick by me for now.'

The weavile looked at the leavanny, only noticing that her leaf was placed on him.

'Kylie's our naturalist nurse.' said Gem. 'They're easier to find than drugs. 'fraid you'll be stuck with'er until we get back.'

'What's your name?' asked Marcus, looking back, after observing the dark, lonesome platform they were standing on.

'I-it's Angel.' he answered.

'That's not your name.' said the toxicroak, shaking her head.

'I don't like it either, but I'm afraid it is.'

'Nobody names any dark type Angel, come on!'

'Then what do you think my name is?'

'Just tell us!'

Angel rolls his eyes angrily. 'Homo Gobo McDumbass! What else!'

Gem laughs out loudly, while Marcus said 'that's… probably not your name either.'

'No, it isn't! But apparently it's not Angel either. Do I need a nickname?'

'I would have stuck with Angel, but… I'm pretty sure-'

'Homo Gobo McDumbass!' Gem guffaws. 'That is totally your name now.'

'Whatever,' shrugged Homo Gobo McDumbass. 'Where're we going anyway?'

'If you're really one of us.' answered Marcus. 'We'll take you to one of our hideouts in this sector, but we'll have to go onto the "truth level" first.'

'Truth level?'

'It's what the Crimson are calling the ground level, because of what the Republic are doing to us.'

Angels nods understandably.

* * *

Much further south-east, Karli climbs out of a hole that had clearly been made by a fiercely strong fire attack, creating a tunnel of its own, between the underground level and what appeared to be a mall. The location was dark, misty and battered with ash and broken glass. Rather frequently, the skylights would flash as the outside remained fiery and explosive.

'Karli,' said McGregor, floating up behind the kirlia. 'Do you even know where you are going?'

'I've never been to Haine, dad.' she replied angrily. 'I was only trying to reach that other tunnel, but couldn't go any further.'

The dusknoir floats out, with the little cranidos tailing him. 'Well, just so you know, we are now on the ground level. We must get downstairs asap.'

'Okay, then let's go.' the shiny kirlia was eager to get going. 'Maybe there's another station or parking lot downstairs here.'

Karli ran off and McGregor called for her to wait up, so he turned to pick up Terri, sunk into the ground slightly and sped across the messy mall ground.

* * *

Travelling miles into the unknown grounds of a warzone, separated from several of his friends was not Glim's intention, however he remembered the primary operation set by Angel, was to find either a member or base of the Crimson Revolution. None of them knew how to join them unfortunately, so at that point the glaceon could only think about winging it. He still wondered how they would just trust anyone who wanted to join, when anybody could be sent by the Republic.

'I can't see shit.' whispered Shadow, wall hugging the tunnel as they walked.

'Hold on.' said Beryl.

Suddenly a light sparked from his wand, revealing the two boys who then squinted at the light, and then glanced around, only to see that they were yet in another dark tunnel with no light.

'You know, for Crio's capital, the city sure isn't busy.'

'We are in the underground train tunnels though.'

'Oh true.' answered Shadow, while his glaceon ran ahead, noticing something in the wall they were walking by. 'Glim, what's up?'

He stops, turning left, peeking into a gap, shaped like a doorway. Above the doorway had a rusted sign saying 'rail maintenance'. Glim used his tail to signal to Shadow and Beryl to come over to him quietly. When they did, they could hear noise down the tight passage. A mix of machinery and a crowd of voices.

'I can hear people.' said Beryl.

'Really?' asked Shadow. 'I'm only hearing hissing and clanging.'

'No, I can hear people too.' responded Glim. 'There's either a base or something down here.'

The passage, even with Beryl's light was pitch black. In case anybody was coming up or watching, the houndoom signalled the braixen to put the light out as they descended. The passageway was only wide enough for the average machoke and was a flight of old age stairs made of rock. Perhaps they could not see because there was a right turn only ten steps down. One look right from that turn, revealed a long length of a hall, which was lit up and busy with pokémon.

With nobody at the doorway, Glim rushed into the open area, where the sounds got much louder than it was a minute ago. The location was huge, whatever it was, it had been converted into a refuge zone. All around there were shanties, crudely built buildings that were barely straight or stable. As was heard above, the sound of the refugees was being drowned out by the constant whirring and breathing of machinery, which were being used to generate electricity, oxygen or energy for the underground.

Listening out for the pokémon was ominous, as the most common sounds to hear were arguing, shouting, crying and the simultaneous chanting whenever a fight broke out. Those who did not have a shanty or even a tent, only had blankets, like those who live on the streets without a home. Most of which had friends or families to sleep next to, while those who were alone never looked happy.

Glim walked, eyeing so many of the civilians who were just curled up in their blankets, all orange and yellow, like the tents that were provided at Statice. A nidoqueen who looked incredibly tired was stroking her nidoran, as well as a zigzagoon who was with them. The children were somehow asleep in spite of the noise. Near that family was a riolu caring for a quilava, putting his blanket over him. The quilava looked very sick, jittering as he breathed, though the riolu kept a brave face and placed pink ear muffs on his friend.

On the other side was a row of pokémon either hiding their selves or on their own. It hurt the glaceon to look at the misery or despair on their faces, so he glanced away, but as he did, he saw down the path of several shanties. The first thing he saw was an eevee getting slapped by a miltank, who was shouting at her about running away. Glim heard little of the scene, but just seeing the little eevee being hurt by a much larger female in pink instantly reminded him of his own trauma. He really wanted to go over and defend the eevee, but she got loose, kicking back as she did and ran off, sneaking down a narrow space between two shanties. The miltank cursed, screaming 'Hattie' and demanding her to get back, but Glim knew the eevee would not.

'Hey.' whispered Shadow, making his glaceon jump. 'You alright?'

Glim nodded, keeping calm as Beryl also approached, holding his ears down.

'I was just…' muttered Glim, shaking his head. 'Just wanted to look.'

Shadow could read the sadness off the little glaceon and looked up at the braixen, who also was not enjoying the sounds.

'It is pretty loud in here. You want to get going?'

The glaceon shook his head. 'We don't know where we're going. Why not ask for the whereabouts for the CR base?'

The houndoom nods quickly. 'Oh okay, yeah. Um… you mind if we stick together though. I don't trust this place.'

Glim nods too. 'Okay. Let's try… wait, where's Beryl?'

Shadow glanced round, noticing that the pretty fox boy was gone.

* * *

Climbing stairs seemed much easier for Angel in his current status, however, he was told that was only because he was held on by the leavanny, who was cycling her use of Helping Hand. As long as they stuck together, he would not fall down so easily in spite of his dangerously low level of stamina.

The weavile, arm in arm with Kylie, following a toxicroak and tailed by what looked like a living boulder shot up a flight of pedestrian stairs and onto an open street of fire. Nearby buildings were highly damaged, on fire or frequently had flying types, bug types or dragons shooting passed them. On the grounds, there were fires seemingly lit all on their own, while blood and dead bodies were everywhere. The sight was chilling even for Angel. The first thing he saw was a gang of mostly steel types in a huge fight with three dragons and a milotic. When suddenly two salamence swooped from above and fired what looked like swarms of fireworks, covering the entire fight in an enormous cloud of light, which generated a mushroom cloud and shockwave that threw Gem over into a roll, while Angel could only endure it, making him fall over.

'Dude get up!' screamed the toxicroak, already running left, heading for the alleyway between public housing and an oddly placed pub next to a main road.

The weavile easily got back up as Kylie seemed to be holding onto him more than the other way round. Marcus spun out from the stairs, into the air and landing perfectly on his feet, forming cracks in the floor when he landed.

Angel then grabbed the slender bug lady, carrying her on his arms, despite she was much bigger than him and sprinted after Gem, with the golem following closely behind. As long as the leavanny kept using her Helping Hand, the weavile was not going to stop, even though he could feel the strain and need to breathe deeper.

They made it to the alley, unscathed and undetected. By which time Gem was leaning against the pub wall on the other side, looking over to the path heading left. She looked over at Angel.

'It's not far from here, but it gets hairy here!'

'Right!' he replies.

'There's a magmortar, a yanma scout and a zangoose. Marcus?'

'I'll get the mortar!' the golem volunteers. 'But you'll have to distract him.'

'On it.'

Without warning, Gem darted out of the alley, running in an arc to the building opposite where the Republic cronies were stopped by. The magmortar appeared to be shouting into the main entrance, but his voice was inaudible with all the destruction happening all around. The bluish-purple anthropomorphic frog dived to the side of the building that was a rundown hotel and looked back at the alley, where Angel stood, watching the toxicroak. She then signalled for Angel to run straight across while she ran to the corner of the hotel, where the zangoose had taken one too many backward steps. It seemed he was in an argument of his own with the giant flame pokémon yelling at the hotel.

'Whoa!' screamed the zangoose, glancing to his right as he noticed Gem swiftly approaching.

The white and red catlike creature was too late to attack the toxicroak, who gave him a swift uppercut with a black claw. The attack sent the zangoose onto his back, several feet away, which is when Angel sped past with Kylie in his arms. The magmortar noticed his ally falling back and immediately raised his cannon-arm at Gem who had enough time to lunge at him and clap her slimy claws at his ears. Flinching back slightly, the magmortar growled as the weavile ran past him too. Immediately as Angel ran clear of the giant flame pokémon, he heard what sounded like an earthquake chasing him, when suddenly he hears an enormous smack as Marcus rolls ahead at a great speed, chucking up dust and blood trying to stop.

When the golem stopped, he was facing opposite the weavile. They then all fell to an unbearable sound above them. The yanma was screeching a glass scraping sound louder than the explosions. Angel fell to his knees, but the leavanny remained in his grip as he looked back to see Gem in pain and on her knees too.

'The yanma!' shouted Marcus.

Angel looked up, squinting from audible pain and could see the little dragonfly descending, but also backing away.

The weavile threw Kylie into the air, giving him the chance to throw a shard of ice at the yanma, hitting her directly between the eyes. She spun and struggled before hitting the ground. While the yanma fell and releasing everyone present from the terrible noise, the zangoose had got back up, not too far from Gem. He took one look at the remains of the magmortar, who became a carcass already buried within bricks. The scar-faced pokémon hissed in disbelief and hit the toxicroak away as quick as he could, before turning to catch the falling yanma at a blinding speed and dashed off down the same alleyway his enemies had emerged from.

'Gem!' called Marcus, just when Angel caught the leavanny as she was. 'You alright?'

The toxicroak knocked into the wall nearest to her, but she swiftly got up, looking out for the cat ferret hybrid who had already ran away.

'Yeah I'm fine!' she yells back, getting up and running past them. 'Pass this building and down the next subway, come on!'

Not even a minute later, the weavile alongside a fast rolling golem ran round a street corner into another valley of burning buildings. Ahead of them, Gem waved to them to hurry up as she leaped down a flight of stairs between two buildings. It did not look like one that the public would use normally unless to escape a fire, but it was opened and between two buildings. Angel had to skip over two dead bodies when he crossed the road, one rattata and one bibarel, before he ran into the stairwell, in fact he was running so fast he fell down it. Kylie gasped as she and Angel helplessly tumbled down the concrete in darkness. Their fall was not long, but the weavile was suddenly feeling powerless again.

'Quick, get up you two!' said Marcus, carefully descending down the stairs. 'Whoa these stairs- shit!'

Suddenly the golem slips on his back, instantly sending him forward into a tumbling bowling ball. The leavanny screamed seeing the giant boulder shooting toward them, but then he was caught by Gem who stood between them, forcing the megaton pokémon to stop on the blood soaked stairs. She was struggling desperately as Angel crawled out, trying to get out of the way.

'Quick quick!' grunted the toxicroak. 'Get out of the way!'

Kylie shuffled back, pulling the weavile well away from the dangerously heavy golem.

Gem could not hold the enormously heavy rock pokémon any longer who slowly slid down the remaining steps, pushing her back and almost crushing her feet. When Marcus had landed on the same level, he popped his head out of his shell with a worried expression, while the toxicroak spun round, flicking her wrists in pain.

'Fuck!' she cries.

'You alright?' Marcus asked.

'We will be when we get back!'

She walked ahead down the dark subway, a little calmer than before.

That time Kylie was the one to lift Angel onto her leafy arms. The weavile looked totally exhausted but alive, awake and in great pain.

* * *

In the biggest mall of the Singlehorn Sector, Karli was still running. Just behind her, McGregor tailed his daughter.

The mall was desolate, misty from smoke, dust and ash. Most of the stores were predictably closed down, smashed to pieces, dead empty or bordered up. At least, Karli thought they were all empty.

Running down what looked like an endless trench of abandoned stores, the kirlia heard a whoosh beside her before being tackled by her father, propelling the both of them further ahead. McGregor had grabbed Karli, spun and stopped to see a thick stone pillar swing down, smashing to pieces when it hit the ground.

'Where did that come from!' said Karli, rolling out of the dusknoir's arms.

McGregor looked up at the walkways of higher levels. He let go of Terri too, who was also staring up at the mall ceiling, which was at least three floors up.

'Who's there!' demanded McGregor, clenching his armoured fist.

'Dad, you can go up there. We'll-'

'I am not leaving you alone, in a warzone.'

Something sounded metres behind them, making scratching noises. Karli caught glimpse of a dark figure moving behind a tall advertisement sign. Meanwhile the cranidos who also heard the rushing claws looked behind them, instead she saw something duck away from above them.

'We're being watched.' Karli whispered angrily.

'Where are they?' replied McGregor, still looking up.

Taking a leap from Angel's strategy, Karli focused her power on the large sign ahead of her. In one wave, the sign and whoever was behind it was smashed into the wall just next to it. The smash echoed as loud as the crash of the pillar.

Immediately, the kirlia bolted in the direction of the path she thought she cleared. Her father by that time finally turned round as Terri was not quick enough to process what happened.

'Karli!' called McGregor, taking the helpless cranidos, sinking into the ground and speeding after the kirlia once again.

The three were passing by what appeared to be a court for the mall's biggest restaurants. However, it was merely a giant curved path to the fleeing kirlia as she kept running. Above she could hear multiple noises of scratchings and flapping rushing across the level just above them. The dusknoir was wary of the noises, keeping his deadly eye on the above level.

Far ahead something shot down into the ground, making the entire ground ahead of Karli split up, vomiting earth like a volcano as the tremor shot toward her. Out of reaction, the kirlia pounded the floor, summoning her Reflect, which deflected the falling rocks. The attack would have been far worse if executed much closer.

The dusknoir risen from the ground, leaving the cranidos he held to fall on her front while he spun round to cover Karli's back. His timing and accuracy proved to be unnecessary when instead of an attack, the trio was met by a shower of rocks that surrounded them. The rocks however, failed to hit the floor, instead they remained afloat and boxing in McGregor, Terri and Karli. The giant ghost veteran had seen the unusually sharp floating rocks before.

'Stealth Rock.' he said.

'Got'em!' screamed Jack, a tyrunt who landed just after using the technique.

The little dinosaur pokémon had not come alone, several children began jumping over the railings from above or emerging from the closed stores. There were at least twenty of them, it was difficult to count with them all running around the rocks, also unable to get passed. Even from the major earthquake just emitted in front of Karli, a phanpy climbed over the destroyed floor.

The kirlia, looked back at her father, afraid, but serious. McGregor also remained determined, maintaining a sinister look.

The children meanwhile were clamouring around the sharp rocks, calling out multiple homicidal threats, like saying they were going eat tonight and they were going to evolve, all excitedly.

'Not today kids.' growled McGregor, reaching out his armoured arm in front of his daughter.

Karli nodded to the dusknoir's proposal. She grabbed Terri, just managing to pick her up and they jumped onto McGregor's hand who then flung them up onto the second floor. The giant ghost then slammed his fist down onto the ground, causing the ground all around him to break. Almost every child had been blown back by the Earthquake, except for the two who already ran toward the nearest wall to chase after the little girls falling onto the second floor.

To break their fall, the kirlia forced energy between herself and the ground she was about to crash onto, along with the heavy cranidos. She herself did not endure much of a crash, though Terri simply slammed on the floor.

Only one floor below, McGregor was able to use the sharp floating rocks to his advantage as they had been used to surround him, which would also act as a barrier. He remained afloat, with crossed arms, just taunting the children to get him. His real objective was to act as a distraction so the other two could escape.

The cumbersome cranidos with her tiny arms struggled to stand up, but with the psychic ballerina by her side, she felt so much safer. Karli stood just in front of Terri with a rather cheesy heroic stance as the two children, one a trapinch and the other a meowth ran with angry faces toward her. Right as the two kids came close to Karli, she suddenly summoned a barrier, making the two crash and bounce back like they ran into a mirror.

Behind her, crossing an overhead bridge was a sneasel, also charging to her with a face like he was trying to be scary. Karli looked back out of reaction, spotting the quick sneasel speeding to her. Terri was up by then, but she cowered, covering her big head with her little arms. Unable to keep the Reflect up and use Magical Leaf in her position, or use psychic type attacks on ignorant dark types, Karli resorted to using the little cranidos herself. She quickly grabbed Terri in psychic energy, making her squeak in surprise and then threw her by her rocky head first into the sneasel, which flung him over the railing. Terri was released and belly flopped on the ground, she had a shocked expression as she looked back at Karli.

By that time, the meowth had got back up and attempted to jump over the shining pink wall between her and Karli, but when she made the jump, the kirlia dismissed the Reflect, making it disappear and leaving the meowth to crash roll across the ground. Only a metre away from the scratch cat pokémon, Karli used Psychic to force her to give the floor a violent head butt. The kirlia then leaped onto the meowth and swung her arm out, summoning five leaves that shot into the trapinch who only got back up.

Another tremor rocked the location, coming from below as McGregor was practically juggling the young thugs, using the ground. The tremor had even shook Karli and Terri off balance.

'You want more?' shouted the dusknoir.

'Stop! Stop! Stop!' yelled a garbodor, swinging down on his junk laden arm from the second level.

The giant rubbish pokémon slammed face-first onto the courtyard, near many of the angry children. Noticing the garbodor, the kids immediately stopped attacking the three. Some of them ran away, many of them to hurt to move, while a few paused still, staring at the garbodor. Those who stood still looked nervous.

Karli ran over to the railing to see what was happening, also to help Terri onto her feet. She exchanged a look of curiosity with her father, who looked up at her, still surrounded by the Stealth Rock.

'You did it again, didn't you?' cried the voice of a female bayleef, running in from where Karli and her crew had first entered.

The bayleef helped up the garbodor, both of them had a black and red scarf, either on their neck or arm. The giant grass pokémon looked furious, approaching Jack, who only looked miserable.

'We're were only playin.' argued the tyrunt.

'Then what's this about!' she said, nodding at McGregor. 'We can see you used Stealth Rocks. Your mother's going to be pissed!'

'Uh, Meg.' said Ben.

'No hang on!' complained the bayleef, looking around aghast. 'How many did you bring this time?'

'It's just us…' mumbled Jack.

'Are these children of yours?' asked McGregor, rising from the floor passed the floating rocks.

'Was it just you they attacked?' asked Meg.

The dusknoir looked back to the second floor. 'Karli, Terri.'

'Oh my god.' the bayleef sighed, watching the little kirlia jump down to the ground floor, followed by Terri who tried to stop herself after seeing the height of the fall.

Little Terri landed on her back, which looked painful from Karli's point of view and yet again she had to pull her back up.

'Jack... Miri…' said Ben, approaching the tyrunt and phanpy. 'It's not your parents you should be worried about.'

'There's no food!' complained Jack. 'Everything back there is shit!'

'Shut up and listen to us Jack!' shouted Meg. 'What Ben's saying is… what are you going to tell the parents of the all these other children?'

Both McGregor and Karli shared a look of shock, looking at the wounded children all around them. There was at least ten of them, either twitching, groaning in pain or not moving at all. Suddenly the kirlia remembered what she did to the meowth.

The garbodor was counting the wounded children with a monotonous tone 'I see Kiera, Joanna, Bergs, Zack… uh… was Samuel with you?' he asked looking at the tyrunt.

Jack looked around. 'I don't see him. He wanted to be the scarer this time.'

By "scarer", Karli wondered if that was who was creeping up on them, when she used the giant sign to crush them against the wall. Her pupils turned small and chills ran up her back as she looked down the long path where she made the attack.

* * *

Glim and Shadow walked out of a steaming hot pathway between shanties, getting them to the other side of the room as they search for Beryl. It was very hot down there with all the refugees of different species around, making the little glaceon pant. Being near his houndoom did not help much either, but he was safe with him.

'Hey Shadow?'

'Yes sweetheart?'

'People down here have lost loved ones… I think it be best if you gave back my tail.'

'Oh.' replies shadow, looking back at his tail which he wrapped around Glim's, like many quadrupedal couples do. 'Sorry, didn't know I even did that.' he chuckles.

The glaceon walked ahead, looking out for their fiery fox friend. Why he would disappear confused Glim, they were in the middle of a refuge site within a warzone. Being quite close to the right hand side of where he and Shadow had emerged from, Glim turned left and started looking left to right. As before, he was either seeing struggling families or distressed pokémon who were alone.

A lonesome white vulpix had caught Glim's attention when Shadow came next to him and pointed at two individuals further ahead on the same side. There was no mistaking that one of them was a pretty braixen with an unusual blue wand in his tail. He appeared to be talking to someone, hidden by a plank of wood.

The glaceon ran a little closer to the braixen who was kneeling, before he noticed that Beryl was on the verge of tears. Glim stopped suddenly, making the houndoom behind almost crash into him. He then looked back to Shadow and tilted his head, signalling him to follow him. The two moved left into another pathway between shanties, attempting to approach the braixen without distracting him.

Beryl, on his knees was holding the paw of an unwell fox pokémon, a delphox. She had her back against the hard brown wall and her eyes were black and dreary. She was poorly covered in the blanket she had been provided and smelled of overheated electricity. Somehow though, she had a smile on her face, yet the braixen before her did not.

The little fox boy took a deep breath, blocking out all the noise around him as he looked back up at the delphox, still with tears having soaked his face.

'Why didn't you come to save me, or Julie?' whispered Beryl.

The smile on the old delphox had dropped. 'You think I did not want to?' she stroked the braixen's face with the paw he was holding. 'Sweetheart… I was not going anywhere with this.'

She slowly lifted her blanket, revealing her front to be mostly black, with deep cuts and green wounds forming craters in her body. Seeing it made Beryl breathe in again, his voice cracking as he did.

'The… the Chrono Necrosis.'

'Yes… when one looks into the future too much, or alternative futures, the spells can do great harm. To the point of needing sacrifices or even life to project them.'

'But why would you do that?' he cried, holding the dark cold paw on his face.

She paused, staring at Beryl's beautiful wet eyes. His cheeks were a charming shade of red, while his voice matched his desired femininity. All of which made the delphox so much happier for him.

'I had to know if you would be safe.'

Her braixen looked down, clenching his teeth before breaking down, forcing him to hug the delphox. She was held tightly, while she got her smile back, nuzzling Beryl and stroking the back of his head.

'Beryl…' she whispered in his ear. 'You should know, just how happy I am for you.' Beryl lifts his head off her shoulder to hear her better. 'I had been watching your future since Hydrangea was taken over. And when I saw you rescued by your friends and growing attached to them, I could not stop myself. I wanted to see you so badly. You changed so much during your journey. Helping Glim, trying to save Belle, befriending that broken weavile. Standing by your friends up against that monster. You've become so brave.'

The braixen breathed deeply, releasing the embrace between him and his mother.

'I'm going to-' he stutters. 'I'm going to get you out of here. I won't let you die down here.'

They joined eyes again, making the delphox smile more, but then she shook her head.

'Do not make promises you cannot keep Beryl.'

He pauses. 'I don't care… I don't want you to die down here.'

'You have to leave me sweetie.'

'No! I can't.'

'It is not me who needs you, Beryl. Your friends are in great danger without you. You take a great role in future, especially one that comes shortly. I do not want you to lose any more friends than you already have, along with losing me too.' Beryl looked down again, trying so hard to resist crying, but he just cannot help himself. 'Sweetheart.' she strokes his burning furry cheek. 'You are looking for the Crimson Revolution main headquarters, correct?' the braixen had completely forgotten about his objective, but it made him snap out of his bewailing. He nods, beaming his very sparkly eyes that had gone red from crying. 'There is no "main headquarters", only bases with secondary leaders. Commander Rancour could not risk losing his revolution if his one base was found, right? He is quite the legend from the visions I have seen. But, the closest base nearby is below the Egg Sector, only a mile south-west if you return to the tunnels. Okay?' her braixen pauses again only to nod seconds later. 'Remember what you said? "There is no greater performance than reality?" Well, I am afraid it is happening my child.'

'You don't have to do this.'

'I know… but I have nothing left but you.' they paused again, before the delphox nods over to the glaceon and houndoom watching from a distance. 'Go… your friends are waiting.'

Beryl did not even look back, he only stood slowly, eyes still locked to those of his mother as turning away became increasingly hard. He was uncaring of the pain in his legs for kneeling and still oblivious to all the noise of the refuge site. Finally, he closed his eyes and turned round. The pretty fox boy figured that his friends would not be just behind him, but watching from meters away. He opened his eyes to see Glim and Shadow standing side by side in the pathway ahead of him.

The little glaceon had a worried expression, afraid to approach Beryl in the state he was in. Thankfully, Glim could stay because the braixen was coming to them.

'Beryl?' said Shadow. 'You alright buddy?'

He stopped just in front of them, wiping off his tears. It was pointless to hide that he had been crying, not that Beryl was trying to hide that.

Glim just remained still and silent, keeping a sympathetic face.

'I'll… be fine.' the braixen choked. 'We have to go. Back where we came in.' he said pointing at the corner on the opposite side of the room.

'If you say so Beryl.'

Before the houndoom moved, Beryl raised his paw.

'Wait!' they paused, staring still into the distraught eyes of the fox boy, who then looked back at the delphox. She was still watching and smiling. 'One moment.' he whispered to his friends.

Shadow and Glim nodded sorrowfully as Beryl turned and walked over to his dying mother, who still kept her smile. He knelt down and picked through the junk that had piled up around the fox woman, until he found a thick stretch of material. It was perfect. He looked up at his mother's eyes once more.

'I'll miss you.' he said, attempting to wrap the material around her head, but his paws were twitching violently, until they were met by the paws of his mother. She helped him wrap the bind around her face, until she could no longer open her eyes.

'I will miss you too.' she whispers.

Beryl knew, the last thing his mother wanted to see, more than anything else was his face. Without the ability to see, she would die without seeing anything else. Those thoughts passed through his mind as it made him tear violently as clenching his teeth stopped nothing. His entire top half gave in to crying out, while his legs propelled him to run. He flew passed the little glaceon and houndoom, heading for the exit he suggested without looking back.

'Beryl!' cried Glim, chasing after him.


	16. Failing one another

Chapter 16:  
'Failing one another'

* * *

Outside of what felt like a refugee city of its own, Glim was stuck once more in the embrace of his distraught braixen friend. Beryl was deeply grieving for the loss of his mother, who was not dead so to speak, but considered that way as she was doomed to sit where she was left, unable to help and unlikely to survive the revolution. She at least got to see what she wanted most, her son, before he blind-folded her and ran in despair.

Beryl's furry body was hotter than usual, giving the little glaceon more discomfort than usual and difficulty to breathe. He figured that the pretty braixen was heating up because of his emotions losing control, which left Glim to sweat heavily down his front, while tears from Beryl trailed down his back. As uncomfortable as Glim was, he continued his hold, even though he was unbearably hot, he knew Beryl was not finished. The braixen continued to weep, far quieter than earlier. To comfort him a little further, the glaceon tried nuzzling the fox boy, stroking his head side by side.

Glim wanted to say something, but just could not think of anything, at least anything that would help, so he just kept to embracing the braixen and letting him get it out of his system. However his silence made time feel a little slow, so he wondered where his friends may be. Shadow meanwhile decided to stay a little longer in the refugee site to see if he could dig any information about the Crimson's base, regardless of their status of the revolution.

Most underground refugees were mostly made up of innocents who wanted nothing to do with it or were unable to escape. Then there were a percentage of rebels who became too injured to help the Crimson further. It seemed however that anyone from the Republic shared the same fate, either utterly insane, silent or suffering from desperation to have something removed from their heads, which they could not explain.

Eventually, Beryl stopped leaking optical waterfalls and was breathing slower, but he still held Glim tightly. The glaceon could easily sense that he was calming down and even his body heat was getting more comfortable, but something else was wrong.

'Glim?' whispered Beryl.

'Yes?' answered the timid glaceon, as softly as he could. The braixen paused long and hard, it seemed he had nothing to say too. 'Is there something you want to talk about?'

Glim immediately regretted asking that, fearing it would upset Beryl, but it seemed to change nothing as the fox boy meekly shook his head. Maybe he just wanted to hear that the little glaceon he was embracing was real.

Soon afterward, the braixen loosened his grip and in sync the two separated slowly. Glim remained staring up at Beryl where he sat, keeping a sympathetic look. The pretty fox boy however had a lot of water to wipe from his face which kept him occupied for a moment.

At that moment, Shadow called from the pitch black stairs where they had both entered and exited from.

'Hey guys,' he said climbing back onto the subway tracks, Glim and Beryl finally separated. 'Someone said there's a base nearby. If we follow this track and take the next right, I think. We can't miss it.'

'A CR base?' asked Glim.

'Yeah.'

'Can we really just walk in? Won't they… um.'

'I don't know much about the initiation,' Shadow said, looking back down the stairs. 'And that luxray said getting in won't be easy.'

'Did they say how?'

Shadow awkwardly shook his head. 'He got in after being rescued by revolutionaries, when his house fell on him. So I'm guessing it's more complicated than we first thought. But surely we can just say we're here to join.'

'Yeah.' nodded Glim, hiding a little anxiety that loomed within him. He felt as though something would go wrong, if it was that simple, than what would stop Republic cronies from doing the same?

The dark houndoom was eager to get moving, not excited but looking out for his boyfriend and Beryl. Shadow already moved steps ahead, turning back and stopping to see Glim helping the braixen. The fox boy was done and calmed down, only wiping the wetness from his face as he stood.

'Are you okay Beryl?' asked Glim.

Beryl only nodded, grabbing the wand in his tail and flaming a bright light so they could see through the pitch blackness ahead of them. The tunnel looked quite long, so they had some walking to do.

* * *

Haine in its revolution had four major bases of the Crimson, one big one stretching under the boarders of the Continent and Rogue sectors. On the most western side, Glim, Shadow and Beryl were heading for the base under the Egg sector, the smallest sector in Haine. The smallest base however was much further south beneath the Scorpion sector. The biggest Crimson Revolution base, known even by the Republic had to be Haine's Central Station, not only the biggest underground, but on the ground level too. The only reason it had not been dragon raided is because it sits under the upper level, where any supporter or executive of the Republic reside. Arguably, despite the upper level being only a 6th of Haine in length, it is believed to be more populated up there for dark reasons.

It was underground, where every CR base was hiding, other than the Central Station where Karli, her father and Terri was being led by a garbodor and a bayleef. All the children that were present in the mall were tailing them, except for the scraggy that Karli had killed.

The kirlia was still depressed about killing Samuel, though she had never met him and was taking initiative on a child who was going to attack her, it just hurt. She was just watching the crowded underground, seem to be slowly moving by, like nothing happened, nobody looking at her and just minding their business. What made it more harrowing was because of how dark it was, all she could see were faint red silhouettes, like she was entering Hell. It made her breath deeply, and again, suddenly fearing for her life, when she was met by a hand on her shoulder.

'Karli?' said McGregor. 'Are you okay darling?'

It seemed obvious to the dusknoir that his daughter was hurt about what she did, but asking her meant that she was cared for. To which she responded by looking back at him, with a smile and placing her hand on his.

'Thanks dad.' she replied.

McGregor continued to hover behind the kirlia as she proceeded to follow Ben and Meg. Little Terri meanwhile was sat on the mighty dusknoir's armoured shoulder, so she would not get lost. The underground path was very crowded, yet seemingly big too, it was probably a mall of its own before the revolution began.

The only part of the crowd that was catching Karli's eyes however were the moping children running around Ben. Some were moping, but the kirlia knew some of them were unnerved, afraid about their parents knowing where they were, yet not one of them were talking about Samuel, or looking back at Karli for killing him. Not that Karli wanted to be called a murderer, but it just felt so wrong, their friend was dead, killed by her and were acting like nothing happened. She was already overcome with guilt, but there and then she just felt sad. Not even Samuel's 'best friend', the tyrunt seemed at all down, in fact he was the one griping the most about wanting to fight the Republic. Every whine from the little tyrunt sickened Karli and it was noticeable.

'Karli,' McGregor spoke. 'Let me assure you, you were defending yourself.'

'No, dad!' Karli interrupted. 'I just- I don't understand why, why they're not affected by it all! Their friend is dead and it's like they've already forgotten him.'

'Karli. Perhaps, they have gotten used to it.' he replied, while Karli's face turned from annoyed to sad again. 'You had your share of hardships getting here, but in Haine, these things happen hourly, maybe even every minute. The children might be unable to mourn their losses, maybe they were not such friends after all.'

The little ballerina kept walking, having nothing to say. She began to fear instead of herself or her friends ending up like that. In fact, Karli had already seen it in Angel and Glim. The weavile was keen to leave them at Camellias and Glim was so sick of the revolution even before Angel was, when he opened out in the toy store at Hydrangea. The kirlia wondered if she would turn like that too, maybe she already has.

'We're not far now you guys.' said Ben looking back, stopping to let Karli and her friends catch up. 'CR Central is just some stairs to go.'

'I hope its downstairs.' said Karli.

'Oh it is, thank god.'

At the end of the tunnel appeared to be a far bigger room, like a ballroom, but when they entered, it was more of a chasm. Suddenly coming onto an enormous flight of stairs heading downward. To add to the fear factor, the stairs was seemingly a bridge, built suspended in air. Being in the middle spared Karli from seeing the blackness that was below, she could easily see the stairs was in the air, but noticing the ceiling stretching wider than whatever she was walking down. The only thing preventing her from seeing the sides and its guards were the crowds.

Light was beaming from below, where the stairs led to another location. The light however was also the source of the room lighting up in red, making it look rather creepy. Terri wondered if they were entering Hell itself and secretly so did Karli.

The next room they were heading for was far noisier than the crowded stairs they were on. It came as no surprise when they entered to find it to be an enormous community formed as part of the underground rail station. For at least two miles from where they could see, was platform after platform, several of which had trains locked down in their places and being used as shelters. There were people everywhere of all species. It looked more like a refugee site more than a rebellion base of operations.

Karli was eyes open when she entered that place. It looked so dark, even with its hardworking old lights, and there were many people upset and angry as usual, but then there were frequent battle cries and cheery atmospheres about taking the city back. Of course, some revolutionaries would not know a thing about what was happening outside of Haine. The revolution had affected the whole of Crio. Something else was concerning the kirlia, as with McGregor, they both noticed a tremendously thick pillar, dead centre of the underground. They assumed that to be the main supporting pillar that keeps not only the ground level from falling on them, but also a part of the upper level where the political enemies laid their heads.

The dusknoir pondered, unable to see the future in that moment, what were to happen if the Republic decided to evacuate the small area the pillar was supporting, and then destroy it from below? The entire station would collapse on itself and if the ground level or the pillar did not crush the station, the torn-off part of the upper level would. Thinking about it put McGregor on edge.

Karli approached Ben and patted him on his shoulder. 'Hey, are these all CR members?' she really had to speak up to get her voice heard.

'Mostly, yeah!' replied the garbodor loudly, stopping when he left the stairs. 'But this isn't where the Crimson recruit or make their plans!'

Meg was already on the ground with most of the children, other than Bergs and Kiera the injured meowth, who were held in Ben's unusual arms. The garbodor, followed by the kirlia, dusknoir and cranidos left the stairs and stood near the bayleef. At first Ben was getting Meg's attention when he looked back at Karli and her father, a little confused.

'Wait, aren't you members already?' he asked, glancing at Karli and McGregor.

'No!' she replied. 'But that's what we're here for.'

The giant trash heap seemed concerned, taking one look at Terri who was still grasping onto the dusknoir's shoulder and head, almost hiding herself.

'Even her, how old is she?'

Terri said nothing and just looked away. McGregor noticed the silence and looked at his own daughter, though she was twenty, she was old enough presumably to join the Crimson at least. It was difficult for them to want the assistance of children, either because of their naivety, inexperience and because they did not want to be responsible for broken parents.

'Would she be safe with you?' the dusknoir asked.

'Safety is not something I can promise,' replied Ben, closing the distance between himself McGregor and Karli. 'This is Haine.'

'I don't think-' Karli interjected, glancing at the cranidos. 'Terri, you said your family were killed in Hydrangea didn't you?'

Terri gave a depressive nod.

'Well you can do two things, she could stay with this group of children or you can take her with you. But bare in mind, if she isn't over twelve, the CR will not be held responsible with what can happen to her. That's all we can do right now.'

Karli and her father looked at each other and though they were okay with joining the CR, they felt worried for the innocent little cranidos. Of all her friends, she was the only outcast other than Beryl who did not really want to be there at all, she just wanted to be with her friend.

'Then do you mind if we have a moment to decide?' asked McGregor.

'Take as long as you want my friend.' replied Ben. 'You can find us at train car 'B244', it's the red one near the medical bay on platform… uh 31 I think. If you take-'

Karli interrupted. 'I'm not going to remember all that.

Her father chuckled, 'do not worry, we'll find you.'

'Okay, best of luck and take care.' said the garbodor in a positive manner, but also eager to move as Meg and the children had already began moving back to their station.

The little kirlia waves jolly, but then looks up at her father. 'What now?'

The dusknoir took the little cranidos into his hands and held her in front of him, looking at her as if she was his own.

'We need to make a decision,' said McGregor. 'Let's find somewhere quiet, okay?'

Terri nodded without saying anything and Karli looked around.

'Dad, you're not thinking of leaving her behind are you?'

'Let us find some space first and we will talk about what we shall do. Do you know what you want to do?' the giant ghost asked the little cranidos, who remained quiet. It seemed she was deep in thought, but really she had no idea what she was doing there and agreed that some space would be nice.

Nearby, while Karli and her friends came in from the north entrance, another crew scrambles into the underground site from a north-east entrance. It was Angel, barely walking, helped by Gem the toxicroak and followed closely by Marcus the golem and Kylie the leavanny. The thick crowds made it difficult to navigate through, but the strong toxicroak was in a hurry and refused to be pushed around.

'Coming through!' Gem called, looking unstoppable as she barged passed a heavy rhydon and cleanly slipped between an aggron and a swampert.

The toxicroak continued shuffling through until she reached one of many medical bays and bust the door open. The bay was dimly lit in a dark red and was surprisingly quiet with all the racket ongoing just outside. The atmosphere was creepy, survivors or relatives were crying at the back of what appeared to be a long corridor. It was as if lampent were swarming behind the lights waiting for the pokémon below to die, so they can burn their souls.

As soon as Gem stormed in, she practically threw Angel onto the nearest available bed. The weavile shook violently upon landing and coughed in pain while doing so.

'Sorry, is this bed being used?' asked Gem, looking down the corridor, but no doctors or nurses were present. By that time, Marcus and Kylie followed in. 'Ky, no nurse is available, can you tend to Homo Gobo?'

'Yes absolutely.' replied the slender insectoid, rushing to the other side of Angel's bed.

'The nickname lives I see.' grunted Angel, tightly grabbing his torso.

'Save the jokes buddy.' said Gem. 'We're suspecting wounds.'

The leavanny began to unbutton the coat worn by the weavile and opened it, revealing the ice packs stuck to his back after his injury from McGregor.

'Oh my god,' gasped Kylie. 'He's already injured.'

'Serious- dude!' added Gem. 'You've already wrecked your back, I think, and you came here?'

'It didn't stop me!' argued the weavile. 'It just hasn't set yet.'

'I can respect that, but that is balls crazy to do that shit you just did, run from a talonflame with that for your back.'

'I'll be fine.' replied Angel angrily and sitting up.

'No, Mr Homo.' insisted the leavanny, placing her thin leaf arms on the weavile, managing to force him back. 'You won't, you're condition is not just affected by your back.'

'She's right,' replied the toxicroak. 'You've already done you're head in too, why are you in such a hurry to get back up?'

'I need to find my friends.'

'If you're referring to the ones you ran from, they can be anywhere, this is Haine. None of them followed you either.'

At that moment, passing the elongated and barred windows, Angel's eyes widened and tensed as he saw a very familiar dusknoir float past, while carrying a little cranidos. He could not believe it, but it would have had to be an extraordinary coincidence if it was not them. Still being held down by Kylie, the helpless weavile pointed frantically at the passing dusknoir, who must have not seen him.

'There- that's them!' he shouted.

Gem and Marcus glanced at the stretching window for the dusknoir. It was much easier to see from inside the medical bay for being darker than the platforms outside it, which was likely why McGregor had not seen Angel beyond the foggy, dirty window.

While the toxicroak leaned over to see the giant ghost a little more, she, Angel and Marcus heard two thumps on the window. It was the blue haired kirlia, peeking through the window. She was staring at Angel, looking a little uncertain as she gave a wave, she must have wondered if the weavile just so happened to be him. When the weavile noticed Karli, he gave a frantic wave, desperate to regroup.

'Hey dad!' Karli called behind the window.

'Is that one of your friends?' asked Gem.

'Yes.' Angel grunted, while Kylie stuck a freezing cold gel down the weavile's sore back.

The kirlia ran to the entrance of what used to be an office, being the medical bay and walked in. She only glanced at the gloominess of the bay once and stared at the injured weavile with open eyes.

'Angel, are you alright?' she asked, approaching him near the toxicroak.

'Back still wrecked, head buncked, arm barbequed, utterly knackered and ears still ringing. Apart from that, having a fucking fab day.'

'Oh, his name is Angel.' grinned Gem.

'Is it just you, where's- where's everybody else?' asked Karli.

'I don't know! I was hoping for at least one of you guys to follow me.' replied the weavile.

'Oh and speaking of that, were you insane!'

'Yes.'

McGregor and Terri entered, both surprised to see Angel there of all places.

'You pretty much abandoned us back there Angel.' said Karli, glancing back at the dusknoir. 'But… my father told me why you had to do that.'

'Did everyone escape?' he asked on his side, looking up at the kirlia and at McGregor.

'I am fairly certain, yes.' answered the dusknoir. 'We are here regardless, however Glim, Shadow and Beryl I believe fled toward the Trap sector. Not sure where they are now.'

The toxicroak interjected, pointing at all four of them. 'Are you all…?'

'We're here to join the CR, yeah.' Angel answered.

'Oh kickass. We can help to get your scarves, I'm an admin you see. A sort of second lieutenant of the CR.'

McGregor raised his hand. 'That will be great, but right now, we have something to discuss first before we go ahead with this.'

'What?' asked Angel. 'We're finally here.'

'Terri?' said Marcus, staring at the little cranidos in McGregor's arm. The rocky monster had a very surprised look in his eyes.

The crew glanced at Terri and at Marcus, who was eerily staring back at the golem. She looked terrified. Karli meanwhile seemed surprised, while Angel appeared confused.

McGregor broke the silence. 'Greetings, are you family?'

'N-no,' stuttered Marcus quietly, still staring at her. 'I… Terri, what an earth are you doing here?' still, the cranidos stayed motionless and silent. Her breathing began to pick up as she looked more and more nervous. 'Where's Austin? Please tell me he's not here too, Terri.'

At that moment, Karli inhaled silently, understanding why Terri became so quiet. She turned her gaze to Angel, who had a more serious look to the golem.

'Who is Austin?' asked McGregor.

Gem interjected. 'Austin's his son.' she became pretty serious too. 'He and Terri were… there's no way you would've come here without him Tez.'

Terri slowly looked over at the window, curling her lips, trying as hard as she could to not cry. But her eyes failed her, leaking a lone pretty tear.

McGregor began to piece what was happening before him and even Kylie stopped what she was doing to listen. The dusknoir looked over to his daughter, who had a sad expression.

Karli crept passed Gem and the side of the bed so she could see the golem, who was looking more and more distressed. 'Could you-'

'Terri.' interrupted Marcus, just raising his claw at Karli and the pausing. 'Tell me, he's alive.'

Helplessly, the little dinosaur began leaking optical waterfalls. Karli stepped in again, attempting to comfort Terri and McGregor lowered her so the kirlia could hug her. At the same time, the giant golem turned around quickly and stormed out to the other exit. Gem wanted to call out to him, but knew he wanted space. On his way out, Marcus broke through the second door, letting it fall.

'We know what happened to him.' said Angel in a serious tone and the present crew looked at him, except for Terri.

'I can't advise you tell'em buddy.' said Gem. 'Not like that.'

'I never said I would, just… letting you know.'

The toxicroak looked at Kylie who slowly resumed her gel treatment to heal Angel's wounds. Gem then turned to little Terri, who was still holding onto the kirlia only just taller than her. She was confused how she did not recognise the cranidos before Marcus did, but she knew her just as well.

Gem sighed, something heating up in her back. 'Terri, we told you and Austin to stay at Camellias, with his mother.'

Finally, the cranidos lifted her head from Karli's shoulders, drenched in tears and losing control of her ability to speak. 'I couldn't stop him, I- he was-'

'And what about his mother! You couldn't have got her instead! Austin's dead Terri!'

'Stop it!' Karli shouted back at Gem. 'She's just a girl!'

Terri broke down, turned and ran out of the door just behind them.

'Terri!' called McGregor, wanting to leave, he glanced at his daughter first. His stare was asking a question and Karli nodded to say that she would be fine. McGregor left the medical bay to find the cranidos.

'Gem.' said Kylie worriedly.

The toxicroak sighed again, not having time to deal with family matters.

She spun round to the leavanny and weavile. 'Look, you make sure he doesn't go anywhere.' indicating at Angel, then turning back to Karli. 'Are you going to stay here?'

The kirlia paused glaring up at her and glanced at Angel, who nodded with regret in his expression. It comforted Karli to know that the weavile was not exactly friends with the toxicroak either, but if she was to join the CR, it would be best to cooperate.

'Okay, fine.' Karli sulked. 'But only here to stay with him,' she nodded at Angel. 'My father will be back.'

Gem paused, seeing the anger in the kirlia. 'No one's here to make friends, sweetheart. I'm sure you know that.'

'I do now.'

The toxicroak turned to Kylie again. 'I'm gonna inform Maladan of our mission, then I'll deal with Marcus.' she begins to head for the other exit where said golem had left. 'Nobody, is to approach him, got it! He's pissed!'

The leavanny interjected. 'Gem, none us are in any condition anyway-'

'Good! I'll meet you back in our quarters.'

She left and the insectoid plant hybrid resumed her aromatic work as Angel did his best to keep still. His burned arm was still twitching crazily from his fight with the talonflame. Karli meanwhile leaned against her back on the window. They were finally there, at a base of the Crimson Revolution, but she and the brutally tough weavile before her had barely made it. She wondered if she should have followed her father and was worried for Terri. On top of all that, where were Glim, Beryl and Shadow? The kirlia could only hope they were safe.

* * *

While Karli, her father, Terri had safely entered the biggest base of the Revolution and reuniting with Angel with recently befriended allies of his own, the same could not be said for the three other boys. A light blared brightly immediately forcing Beryl to avert his eyes. The braixen was in a prison room made of bricks and all alone it seemed. Glim and Shadow were nowhere to be seen.

'You know why you have been spared, braixen. Don't you?' said Charlotte.

The mismagius emerged from darkness.

'Where am I?' Beryl replied, suddenly noticing the dizziness in his movement.

The ghost, seeming to be nothing but a cloak and a big hat paused. 'Maybe it was a little stronger than I thought. My dear boy, you were put to sleep, while we… dealt with your friends.'

Suddenly the images flashed into the braixen's mind of what happened, making him gasp. He, the glaceon and houndoom had traversed down several dark tunnels, guided only by his wand light. The only other light they saw was a creepy red one, only lighting a guarded gateway. The gate appeared lonesome, protected only by an aggron and a machamp, both of which were heavily armoured, masked and scarred.

The next thing he saw was an argument between Shadow and the guards who appeared questioning them with knives for eyes. The houndoom is pinned down by the machamp, followed by a scraggy and a granbull coming out from the darkness to assist the guards. Glim meanwhile looked as though he was begging. Beryl meanwhile, at least as far as he knew was slowly taking steps back and dropped his special wand and raised his paws. When suddenly the aggron looked up at him, face completely hidden in blackness and charged toward the defenceless fox boy. The huge metallic dinosaur tried to dive tackle into him when Beryl quickly took a side step, narrowly dodging a fatal attack. Still he refused to fight and shivered in his surrender. Such appearance of fear made the nearby guards look at the braixen with scepticism when something passed them, a patch of dark fog which transformed into a figure with a long pointy hat. The being was known as a mismagius, who wavered her cloak at the others to hold their attack, but then she gave Beryl a disturbing look as her eyes flashed red and yellow. The braixen then blacked out.

'Where are my friends?' cried Beryl, tensing his paws.

Charlotte drew closer. 'You will not raise questions here, do I make myself clear?'

'Y-yes mam, but I-'

'As for your friends, you are best forgetting about them.'

'What?'

'They are clearly members of the Republic… unless you can convince me otherwise.'

'No! They're- we came all this way to join the Crimson. That is… you guys right?'

Charlotte smiled and shook her head, 'you're too innocent. Tell me where you came from.'

'I came from Hydrangea, which was where I met Glim, the- the glaceon. We were imprisoned together at the Royal Talon. Um…'

'And the houndoom?'

The braixen paused, pupils going small, 'I… first met him outside Camellias, on that… extraction point. He was tailing Glim all that time.'

'Tailing?'

'I mean, when Glim had been in prison with me, he was um- he was separated from Shadow.'

'The Royal Talon?' she asked and Beryl nodded. 'And how did he end up there?'

'I-I remember, he came from that island, Lilac I think, which got raided and he survived.'

Charlotte squinted. 'And was the houndoom with him?'

'I think so.'

'Sweet little braixen, your "friend" is a Republic agent.'

'What? But… Shadow's a dark type.'

'We've seen the Republic getting crafty. They've used dark types they captured to search for us and pinpoint where to Dragon Raid next. Words from the commander himself.'

'But Shadow isn't-'

'And do you not think it is strange that he was with your friend when Lilac got raided? We sure know about Prince Snowdrop, he was once one of our allies and when he was killed, nothing was stopping the island from getting raided! Perhaps that houndoom is only tailing your glaceon to keep track of him, knowing the potential he has.'

'N-no, they're boyfriends.'

'One of which, is a manipulated dark type. We know better than anything else about what dark types can do, our commander has warned us.' the mismagius levitated keeping a straight back, while her eyes remained fixed on Beryl's. 'I said to let go of them. Whether or not the glaceon is on our side, we will need more time for, but that houndoom must die.' her eyes then appeared calmed. 'As for you, it was obvious you had no ability to lie in your circumstance. If anything, you act like you don't want to be here.'

Beryl lightly shook his head and whispered, 'I… don't know what I'm doing. I just didn't want to be alone.'

'Don't worry.' said Charlotte, smiling. 'You won't be lonely with us, in fact, an ally like you could really help us.' the mismagius looked back and her cloaked waved across her, gesturing for someone to come in. 'Can you tell me, where you got this wand?'

A pangoro emerged from the darkness holding Beryl's unique blue wand carefully. The braixen shook his head.

'I don't know where it came from, it was given to me when I was being rescued at the Royal Talon. Some alakazam girl was saving me and Glim.'

'An alakazam?' interjected Charlotte. 'Did you know her?'

'We never got her name, but she seemed to know us.'

The mismagius looked back at the mythical wand which was placed on the metal desk between her and the braixen. With the light shining on it, it glowed as if it was an art relic made by arceus itself. A little too futuristic and beautifully crafted for a wand in that era especially.

'That wand is incredibly powerful and was indeed one for braixen and delphox, such as yourself. Wherever it came from, you're lucky to have it.'

'Do you, know this alakazam?'

Charlotte's smile transformed, leaving her with a serious face. 'The commander has told me rumours, one of which was of a female, but… it's too surreal to be true. But with you with it, we'd be happy to assign you to our cause. What is most important to you?'

Beryl looked at the wand and thought for a moment. It seemed his journey from Hydrangea had less meaning than most of his friends, he was just sort of there, getting taken with the wind because he had no one and nowhere else to go. All his friends were killed before he even met Glim. At first, he wanted to say to have a future, but knowing his dreams of being any sort of performer was already in flames, there could only be one other to have his priorities.

'My friends.'

The mismagius stared at the braixen for a moment. 'With the Republic still alive, people all around Crio are going to die, be them your friends or not. Or even if they win. We cannot let that happen.' they paused again. 'What is your name, braixen?'

'It's Beryl.'

'Very well. If you Beryl, so wish to join us, take your wand.'

It was what he and his friends made the journey for, but something was missing and for it, he would have to betray them. The braixen leaned back on his chair and slid his paws around him, as if hiding them. His eyes meanwhile showed sadness, looking away from either Charlotte or his wand.

'I want to think about it.' he whispered.

The mismagius puzzled, seeming a little angry and did her best to hide it. She calmly took the wand she could not use and glanced back and forth at it and Beryl.

'You're making a mistake my friend. But, if a little time is all you need, then so be it.' she turned, handing the unique wand to the pangoro who brought it in. 'Alison will show you to your quarters. This base isn't a refugee, but it is still pretty crowded, okay Beryl?'

The braixen nodded, appearing so small to them. With his answer, the mismagius left disappointed alongside the pangoro. Before Charlotte left, two light green flames glowed in the darkness, revealing Alison to be a marowak who approached Beryl. He stopped, when passing the desk and gazed at the pretty braixen. The muscular darkened marowak paused, just inspecting the fox boy before him, waving his fiery bone near him to see him. Beryl noticed the examination and gave the marowak a curious look.

'Beryl, yes?' Alison asked.

The braixen nodded and the marowak offered his claw, but Beryl simply stood. 'Are you Alison?'

'Alison yes. With me you will come.' he replies boldly and took his paw.

Despite Alison's rough atmosphere and way he moves, he held Beryl's paw very softly and was patient enough for the braixen to move with him. The fox boy however just remained obedient, letting the marowak take him where his 'quarters' were.

Beryl was taken down a dark corridor that led onto a raised walkway, over a busy cafeteria it seemed. It was not particularly big, but it was clearly housing all of its inhabitants well, there was no riots or aggression.

The braixen was less interested in the crew and glanced around the structure, which appeared to be a school cafeteria at one point, with all the lockers and advertisement boards over the serving hatchway. Below him however were multiple doors, leading to what he could only imagine were either array of classrooms, toilets or to the upper floor, which peered over the cafeteria like a watch tower. There was no sign of any facility for prisoners.

Across the walkway, Alison took Beryl down a stairway which brought them down a dark corridor with eerily black rooms on either side. Some the rooms had lights on, though these lights were of medieval methods, such as lanterns and candles. They were clearly sleeping quarters. Eventually, the marowak turned left, stopping in front of a door numbered 32.

'This be our sleep room.' said Alison, letting go of the braixen's paw and opening the heavy door.

Beryl's eyes shrunk a little, 'o-our room?'

'Yes.' he replied, waving his bone to create his usual green flame and lighting a candle he placed near the door.

Beryl entered the room and the shy braixen boy was quick to see the two beds being mere haystacks of a medium size. He realised that might be why he was paired with the marowak as they were roughly the same size and Alison likely had room for a roommate. Just when Beryl made that conclusion, the marowak answered it.

'Partner killed in previous mission, Alison alone.' he said so boldly, as if unaffected.

'O-oh, sorry to hear that.'

Alison stormed toward his haystack and angrily plonked his bone against his collection of chains and mats. 'Partner was asshole! He betray Alison and smell of poo!'

Beryl did not know whether to apologise again or to say 'good riddance' which he thought would have been a bit insensitive. Instead he only said 'okay' and nodded. It was obvious that Alison was not the talkative sort and English was not his first language.

'You smell of cream.' continued Alison, looking to the pretty braixen, suddenly losing a lot of his seriousness as he sat proudly in his hay bed.

'Sorry?'

'You smell nice and is… beautally-ful.'

Beryl smiles awkwardly. 'You mean beautiful?'

'Yes, very.'

The braixen paused for a moment, 'thank you.' he stared at the marowak for a moment. 'Wait, are you going to bed?'

'Yes, Alison had mission last morning. We Crimson need energy to fight, lots!'

'A-am I okay to… come back? I mean, know my bearings?' the mighty marowak tilted his head, not seeming confused but showing he misunderstood. 'I mean to, um… I return later, now I have look around.'

'Yes,' Alison replies boldly, 'you can seek, I remain here.'

'Thank you.'

With that Beryl calmly left the room and gently closed the door, his marowak roommate eyed him as he left. Alison then laid back down and smiled.

* * *

Terri had not run far from the medical bay. McGregor found her by a small makeshift playground, where multiple children were passing the time playing with each other. A group of boys of varying species were using train cars, opposite each other as goals for their ball game. The children nearby were seemingly oblivious to the despairing cranidos who was hiding in a plastic playhouse, she was barely small enough to fit into it, but it still hid her. She just wanted to be away, to be invisible, nobody to know her for what she did.

The giant dusknoir crept up to the playhouse, having given Terri a moment to calm herself. McGregor stayed out of sight for the little cranidos, so she would not feel that he was watching her. The dusknoir knew that Terri wanted to be alone, but then he could not leave his daughter in the same circumstance.

Still enduring the resisted sobbing of the little dinosaur, McGregor lightly knocked on the house. 'Terri?' he asked softly, 'can I talk to you my dear?'

The cranidos finally stopped. 'Is… Karli there?'

'No, she's…' McGregor looked back, unable to see the medical bay hidden behind the busy crowd. 'She is with Angel and I am not keen to leave her there.'

Terri paused, 'why'd you come for me? All I do is ruin everybody.'

She could not even finish her sentence before breaking into tears again.

'Terri… Karli sent me to find you because she is worried for you, I am worried for you.'

'Even… even right now, I've taken you away from her. And it's my fault!' she screamed. 'I could have stopped Austin from going and neither of us would've ended up here.' Terri took a moment to breathe and McGregor remained quiet. 'Leave me, Mr dusknoir. Go find Karli, she needs you.'

McGregor interjected, 'Terri, we're not leaving you here.'

'Then where're you taking me, up there? Don't…' she stuttered. 'I'll find that garbodor, then I won't be in your way.'

The dusknoir paused, suddenly more melancholic for the cranidos and took a moment to think. Terri had a point too, if she was to join them in their fight for Crio's salvation on the upper levels, she would likely get in their way and need them more. McGregor took one look into the future for the cranidos and strangely, he could not see anything at all, nothing but blackness. That often meant that her future was so clouded for having so many possible outcomes or perhaps having none at all. It hurt McGregor to want to leave, only making one slight drift backward made him feel like he was losing a daughter, when he barely knew the cranidos.

'Terri.' he said, patting her on the back. 'Could you come out a second?'

Unexpectedly, the cranidos did, she was slow and clearly distressed. She looked up, giving McGregor the most upset, soaking face. The dusknoir sunk down a little into the ground, so he was more on eye level with Terri and reached out to hug her. At first, Terri thought McGregor was going to take her back to Karli and Angel, but then hugged back tightly. Again, she leaked tears in receiving comfort.

After a while, they separated. McGregor looked gigantic to the cranidos, but in a heroic way, like he was to be looked up to. Terri was able to give a little smile, but then she sulked back into the playhouse and remained silent. The dusknoir remained silent also, but could not help stare at the little girl, something felt so wrong to him. At the same time, his fatherly instincts gave him the feeling of getting pulled back as he had a daughter of his own to accompany.

Back at the medical bay.

'What the hell do we tell him?' asked Karli.

'Nothing,' replied Angel. 'For now.'

The injured weavile was still on the bed where his wounds were treated, only sitting up.

'So, you two knew Austin?' asked Kylie.

'We met him,' answered the kirlia. 'But… it was pretty brief.'

Angel interjected, 'long story short-'

'No Angel.' Karli interrupted.

'They already know Karli, what's telling'em now going to hurt them?'

'Telling "em", her,' she replied nodding at the sitting leavanny, 'isn't what's going to hurt them, it's how you say it. Remember when you told us about Belle?' Angel remained looking ahead, without an answer. 'That golem has lost his son, and tried to keep Austin from coming here. I can see why Terri was so nervous when we met her, crying in fact. But it was Austin who encouraged her to come. He was dead serious about her too.'

'That sounds… kind of like Marcus actually.' said Kylie, who then paused, 'leave him be. I never met his son like Terri or Gem had, but he meant a lot to him.'

The little kirlia looked back at the murky window, 'where is Terri anyway?'

'Not coming,' said McGregor suddenly appearing, which made Karli flinch, but then give a worrying expression.

'W-what do you mean she's not coming?' she demanded.

'I spoke to her, said we would not leave her, but she said otherwise. It will be safer for her too.'

Karli was giving a slow series of nods, seemingly angry, 'oh, she said that?' she whispered.

'We're going to fight revolution Karli, it was a sensible decision for her.'

'And what was stopping her from staying with us for now?'

'Karli, Terri is going to find that garbodor.'

'Because of tha-' Karli yelled, but managing to catch herself. Her head tense and squinted as she tightened her fist. 'Excuse me.'

The kirlia turned to leave, storming off to where the toxicroak and golem had left.

'Karli!' called Angel. 'McGregor, I'm pretty confident she's gone to find Marcus.'

'She would not.'

'You wanna bet on that?' the weavile asked seriously and the McGregor gave him a stern stare. 'Dude, that golem is rock solid, at least be there!'

The dusknoir looked ahead once more, only hoping that his daughter would not act so recklessly and on aggression.

* * *

It was too noisy all around the Crimson Revolution base in the Trap sector, Beryl had to hold his large ears down when he wanted to think. He avoided the crowded areas, looking out frantically for anything that suggested prisoning.

The braixen climbed back up to the overhead walkway above the cafeteria, as there was a few areas up there he had not checked. Just climbing onto it, he checked the door that was right next to the stairs, but it was only a disused fire exit. So he turned to cross the eerily unsteady walkway, which was only held up by wires.

'Hey, sweetheart!' called some gurdurr. 'We can see right up ya skirt!'

Immediately the men at that table burst out laughing and Beryl sped up his movement, both flustered and annoyed. He had heard catcalls like that before, being a feminine braixen, but things often get much worse if the males had seen that Beryl was not a girl.

Beryl reached the corridor where he was first taken through by Alison, where he was questioned and it was dead empty. Continuing ahead however, there was a door that had 'staff only' stuck on it. The braixen was worried if that was for the school the location once was, or for the CR. Placing his onto the door he heard nothing, so Beryl pushed down on the bar that opened the door. Opening it slightly, he peeked through the gap and slowly opened the door until he realised nobody was in the area the door it led to. It was another very long corridor, except it was lit up unlike the others. It was surprisingly quiet with the cafeteria just being down the shorter corridor behind him. The entire left wall was a stretch of reinforced windows, completely black.

The fox boy entered, feeling more confident as he did, but as soon as he closed the door, two hard thumps on the window made him jump for his life. Glancing at the noise and almost rushing back out of the corridor, Beryl saw a figure he was not expecting. Behind the window was Glim, pressing himself up against it and waving madly. Instead of leaving, the braixen rushed up to the window and placed his paws where the glaceon had his.

'Glim!' Beryl cried. 'Are you okay?'

The glaceon appeared to say something, shaking his head as he did, but despite how quiet the corridor was, Beryl could not hear anything. The window was clearly soundproofed, though it could not been too thick as Glim was able to hit it hard enough to get the braixen's attention. As tempted as Beryl was to break the window to save his friend, he was afraid it would attract attention, not that he could anyway, the window was one of those with sturdy wires built within it and he did not have his wand on him.

During Beryl's train of thought Glim rapidly breathed ice all over the window on his side, completely fogging it up. The braixen stepped back in surprise, but quickly knew what the glaceon was going to do. On the fogged glass, Glim wiped a square, followed with many lines going horizontally, which looked like an air vent. Just next to the diagram, he wiped a long vertical line, with an arrow pointing at it from one side and wrote A-M3 on the other side. Beryl could only assume that code was a room, which seemed familiar.

After his directions, the glaceon moved further along the window, where the ice had ended. Glim and Beryl shared eye contact, both pointing at the number which was downstairs, but then the glaceon made some other act, standing on his hind legs and making a violent motion, as if firing a gun. The fox boy puzzled and mouthed 'what?' Glim however, repeats his gesture, only quicker and a little angry. Beryl figured he wanted him to fight or something, but then turned to show Glim that his wand was taken from him, no longer carried in his tail. The little glaceon then ducked down under the window and when he came back up he had hand the braixen's wand in his mouth. Beryl's ears perked up seeing it. Glim then pointed downward twice, telling Beryl to go downstairs. The glaceon then turned and ran off.

The braixen boy could not help but run up to the glass again, afraid of losing the cute glaceon. Though it seemed that Glim was not wasting time, was probably aware of Shadow's danger and was being brave about it. Beryl then took a determined look and ran back to the door whence he came in. As he opened the door, he took one last glance at the 'A-M3' room number and quickly left.

Beryl quickly made his way across the skywalk, only walking faster to not appear too suspicious. He had to go down the same stairs he climbed up, taking him down to the crowded room of pokémon, mostly consisting of guys, war heroes and psychopaths. When the braixen got to the floor below, he was not quite sure where to go and was not keen on asking for directions, but he wanted to try the exit far behind him which appeared to be connected to many classrooms. Regrettably he notices the table of guys who were catcalling him earlier, but hoped to pass without another call.

'Hey beautiful.' called the same gurdurr from before, all his mates all staring at the angry braixen who glared at the smug muscular pokémon. 'I like your butt.' he chuckled, as did his friends.

Beryl in a flash took one step forward and gave a ferociously loud slap to the gurdurr's face. So loud, it managed to echo in the very noisy room. The gurdurr seemed unfazed and still smug, but squinting in pain. His mates however began laughing as the braixen quickly walked away.

'Mate, you deserved that!' laughed the swampert.

The hawlucha laughed, pointing at the gurdurr, 'dude, your face- did that sting by chance?'

'Yes.' he replied with clenched teeth.

Their conversation was getting drowned out as Beryl walked away, whilst he shook his claw. He could not help his feeling a grave shock, disbelieving he just slapped a tough looking man with all his friends and getting away with it. He felt different, he felt terrified yet alive, somehow it made him feel good, he stood up for himself.

Still coming out of the shock of his action in the cafeteria, the braixen looked left and right at every room around him. All the lights were on, but none of their signs started with an A. They were all just numbers. Beryl began to get desperate and ran to the end of the corridor which led to two more either side. The whole place felt like a maze, however, just on the wall was a sort of map, which looked rather old, but at one look at it, the braixen knew where he was and found the specific room Glim numbered to be just down the corridor on his right.

After more running down creepy lonely corridors, Beryl found room A-M3 just around a corner. But it was not a classroom, from the outside it appeared to be some lecture theatre with much thicker, tighter doors that appeared to be sealed with magic. In the middle of the two giant doors was some shield, glowing a violet colour.

'Psst, Beryl?' called Glim, sounding to come from the corridor Beryl had left.

The braixen glanced back and quickly noticed the air duct just under the ceiling. He ran up to it, but it was a little too high for him to look into. He could tell Glim's voice was not only coming from it, but down some shaft as well, so the glaceon was not just behind the fencing he saw.

'Glim?' called Beryl, just looking up at the grate.

'Beryl! Thank god, we don't have much time, okay? They're going to kill Shadow when one of the teams come back.'

'I know! But how are we getting him out of here?'

'Hold on.'

For a moment the glaceon sounded to have jumped off something and spoke to someone, Beryl could hear him saying 'now'. Suddenly a loud thud was heard, followed by eerie screeching until something metal was pulled off. Then the grate above the braixen received a hard knock, denting it majorly and was hit a few more times until the bars bent outward, forming a hole.

The female machop breaking the grate was Penny, who quickly shoved the unique wand through the hole.

'Quick take your wand.' she said.

The beautiful blue wand flew out and Beryl caught it awkwardly.

'Use it Beryl,' said Glim, 'the door is sealed from your side, but fire magic should break it easily.'

'Be prepared though.' added Penny.

Eager to help, the braixen rushed into the tiny corridor to the large doubled doors that appeared bomb proof. He swished his wand in a circle and summoned a ring of blazing fire around the shield. At an instant the fire had spread around the corridor, as if it bounced and lit up the area. Immediately at the same time the shield made a horrific squeal sound, like multiple voices screaming in pain. Suddenly, Beryl remembered what Penny had just said to him. His face went from serious to pale and in shock as he witness a sword drawing out from the shield, clearly appearing longer than it. The gold sword had an angry red eye and two long purple cloths coming from under the handle guard. That possessed creature was known as an aegislash.

The sword left the doors as they continued to glow violet with the shield in place, it then pointed its blade at the fox boy who flinched upon sight of the aegislash's blade. Beryl cowered holding his wand over his face as the blade swooped across the air and ground against the unique branch, which forced the braixen back and turning right sharply. The aegislash carried on going and sunk its blade into the wall that was behind Beryl.

Frightened Beryl saw his chance to strike, but his paws were so cold and tense from the situation he was only quick enough to point the wand at the struggling sword. The aegislash was hissing, beaming its bright red eye as it yanked itself from the wall before Beryl casted any fire, it rose up and struck down as Beryl gasped, leaping backward. The blade missed him by an inch. Suddenly at full control that time, the braixen screamed and flicked the wand at the sword, blasting as much fire as he damn well could. The floor all around became a sea of amber flames, with the sound of a metallic roar within it.

The wash of fire quickly faded as the aegislash was revealed to have yanked itself out from the floor, spinning wildly away from the door or the braixen. Immediately however, the sword pointed at Beryl again, turned black whilst twitching and zoomed into the stomach of the fox boy, impaling him to the wall just next to the doors. Beryl did not even scream, he had not even realised he had a huge sword stabbed through him, all he felt was being scared and knowing the aegislash was right before him, glaring its terrifying red eye at his big pretty eyes. Fortunately the braixen had still tightly held onto the wand, so in a fit of survival, he inhaled and raged, belting the eye of the sword with his wand, blazing in flames. Both Beryl and the aegislash screamed until the flames once again died down, except the sword pokémon seemed to twitch violently and pull itself of out of the fox, leaving him to fall on his bottom. The sword also fell to the floor, still twitching and on fire, screaming its muffled voices until finally stopping and clanking onto once side. As the sword fell, the shield half stopped floating in front of the doors and crashed to the floor next to the braixen.

The glowing violet aura that walled the door had faded away. Immediately, there were two voices behind it signalling to hit it and the door received a huge whack, almost opening it the first time round, however the locks had not broken completely. Beryl realised he was right in the way of the door's opening space, but he could not move at all right then, so he braced himself when the doors slammed open and hit the walls on either side. As soon as the machop and houndoom burst through, they stopped quickly upon sight of the burnt aegislash.

'Whoa!' said Shadow. 'Holy crap… Beryl?'

Glim ran after they blew the doors open, but the one on their right slowly closed as the cowering braixen was behind it. The glaceon and houndoom spotted Beryl at the same time, but it was Glim who rushed to him first, quickly noticing the vertical gash on the braixen's belly.

'Beryl!' cried the glaceon. 'Are you alright?'

The braixen was breathing deeply, knowing something was wrong. He was only beginning to realise that the aegislash had impaled him. Blood began to leak quickly.

'He got stabbed by the guard!' said Penny.

'We have to help him- can you move?' asked Glim.

Beryl tried to sit up, drawing in his legs and attempted to stand, but he just had no energy to. All he achieved was the great pain he had not felt when he was stabbed, making him squeak loudly. Glim ducked just next to him and attempted to lift him using his body.

'Don't worry Beryl,' he continued. 'We'll get you out of here-'

'He'll have to stay.' objected Penny.

'What?' I'm not leaving him here!'

Shadow then stepped in, 'Glim wait, she's right, if we take Beryl, he probably will die.'

'Exactly,' said the machop, 'you can leave him to me, I'll take Beryl to the medical unit. You two need to get the hell out of here.'

Glim paused, seeming sad and reluctant as he stared up at Beryl's pretty face who also appeared unwell. He then nodded and let go of the braixen.

'The exit?' asked Shadow hurriedly.

Penny pointed down from where Beryl came running from. 'Down this corridor, two lefts, up the stairs and the first right, a fire exit.'

'D-down here, two lefts, upstairs and right.'

'Yes, and if you get yourselves out, head for the central station. You don't need to be a Crimson member to be there, whereas you do here.'

'Okay.'

'But what about Beryl?' asked Glim. 'He just helped us escape and killed that thing, isn't Charlotte going to kill him?'

'Don't worry, Charlotte trusts me.' Penny replied, approaching the incapacitated braixen. 'As for him and the guard, well I can blame that on you two.'

'O-okay.'

'Glim, we have to go now.' said Shadow worriedly. 'I'm sorry Beryl.'

The braixen's eyes began to squint as his blood continued to leak. The blood appeared not so bad on the outside, but they knew that impalement would cause far more internal bleeding. Glim took a step back, staring at the dying braixen's eyes. It hurt to see him that way, inside he felt it was already too late.

'We'll…' the tears began to fill the glaceon's pretty eyes. 'We'll come back for you, okay?'

Beryl gave a weak nod. He too looked as though he was never going to see his friend again. He dropped his wand and with all his remaining strength, the braixen leaned forward, grabbed Glim's head and gave him a short kiss on his mouth. He slumped back at the wall, close to fainting.

Penny quickly knelt beside the braixen, 'go, go!'

The glaceon hesitated for a moment, very close to crying as he ran down the corridor, accompanied by Shadow.


	17. Freezing the heat

Chapter 17:  
'Freezing the heat'

* * *

It was busy where ever Karli went in the train station, even in staff only sections where everyday offices were located, pokémon were laying around without a home, passing by or working. Even though the angry kirlia had no scarf or garment with the Crimson emblem on whatsoever, no one was questioning her. Perhaps she was too small to be considered threatening, or maybe her continuous glare was reason to assume she was already a member.

She was not sure entirely where she was going, but was determined to find a golem she figured to have stormed out to return to his quarters. Whether or not that was the case, Karli knew that Marcus was in condition to throw a rage, so any sound of destruction was on her focus.

The living quarters of the Crimson soldiers was reached, though they could be living with the refugees if they wanted, however the section Karli was at were for the higher ranks. The kirlia remembered Gem saying that they were executives, so they possibly had dorms of their own. Along the way, she had not seen anything amiss, nothing particularly loud or violent going, until she reached end of the corridor.

From the left, several voices of surprise and a few screams could be heard as a monferno and mienfoo flew out from it. Karli quickly ran out to look down the corridor which they came from and see an umbreon to have been thrown too. Much further down was a dimly lit golem, whose face was transformed. His colleagues nearby were either backing away or shouting at Marcus, telling him to calm down. Clearly they had not known of his loss.

Seeing the rage had slowed down the kirlia's eagerness, but she continued her approach regardless. The closer she got to the scene, the easier she could see the insanity and tears that had formed on Marcus' eyes.

The golem roared, 'None of you want to save, you're all just killers!' every comment he made both angered his allies and worried them. One blaziken emerged from the crowd, telling Marcus to calm down, which he followed with 'make me you shits! Senseless, child murdering-'

At that moment, the giant rocky dinosaur was struck on his huge boulder shell by a shower of rainbow coloured leaves, stabbing his back and weakening the rock structure of his armour. In fact the leaves had absorbed so much of his energy, Marcus fell to one knee, clenching his teeth like a mad yungoos.

'Hey!' called Karli, forgetting the name of the golem. 'Don't just take it out on them.'

The tiny ballerina approached slowly, still looking so fearless. She had honestly hoped that maybe some of the others would have aided her or tried reprimanding Marcus for already attacking three of his colleagues. Instead most of them just stood staring, gobsmacked or shaking their heads, some were indicating to Karli to get away or calling her crazy.

'You can't blame them for what happened to Austin,' Karli continued, as Marcus got back on both feet. 'I know what happened!'

'And it's too late, isn't it?' the golem hissed, who then slowly turned to the kirlia. 'So why tell me what happened, you messed up freak of nature bitch!'

'Just stop a second.' Karli replied angrily, 'Austin wanted to-'

Suddenly in a flash, Marcus spins wildly, tucking himself into the boulder that was his shell, seeing the movement only metres before her, Karli put her hands forward to summon her Reflect spell. Just on time the kirlia's wall of light flashed into existence, right when the golem shot into it, forcing it and Karli back, while he continued to grind at the wall. Regaining her balance, Karli took one sidestep, allowing her to pull the Reflect at one side and direct the rampaging golem into the wall that neighboured them, bouncing off it and crashing into the intersection the kirlia had entered from.

Cancelling his momentum on the spot, Marcus continued his spin, building up as much speed as he could and redirecting himself to face Karli. The kirlia was tense, holding out her Reflect as her eviolite glowed.

As before, the golem rocketed from the spot, but that time due to the distance Karli had enough time to sidestep to her right and use her Reflect to dodge the mad boulder. Her action also caused Marcus to lose direction and bounce off the thick concrete walls, barrelling from side to side like a pinball, while the witnessing pokémon fled, keen to not get crushed. As tremors and dust filled the corridor, the kirlia countered in attempt to stop the golem once more, by hurling her five Magical Leaf at him, all of which darted into the lethal boulder without fail. However, the golem only slowed down and roared angrily, so Karli generated five glowing leaves again and fired them at Marcus, who finally came to a stop, landing on his front.

Steadily, Karli watched at the golem who was refusing to stop, but was struggling to stand back up.

'Karli!' called McGregor, shooting up from the ground, first facing the downed golem and then glancing to his daughter. 'What on earth are you doing?'

'Defending myself dad!'

Metres behind the dusknoir, Marcus was slowly picking himself, drooling in blood and rage.

'Karli,' continued McGregor, grabbing the kirlia by her shoulders. 'You shall never fight fire with fire! It will only-'

Before the giant ghost in armour could even finish, the path he, his daughter and Marcus were stood on suddenly shook so violently the dusknoir and kirlia were thrown upward and hitting the ceiling. The mad golem had used Earthquake, shoving his claw into the ground. He then managed to draw it back out, quickly tuck himself into his shell, spin and shoot into McGregor. The dusknoir was catapulted into the wall, forcing him through it as Marcus crashed onto the ground, still rolling and grinding the ground. Karli meanwhile, being much lighter than the men before her had only just landed on her front, metres away from Marcus.

'Dad!' shouted Karli, twitching in dust and picking herself up.

The kirlia already guessed that Marcus would be preparing another Rollout and as quickly as she could, she threw her arm forward right when the golem accelerated into her, only to impact once more into a Reflect spell. As before the wild grinding to the barrier was forcing Karli back, as if the wall was also against her and causing her eviolite to beam brighter. The force appeared unstoppable to the little kirlia, who clenched her teeth in trying to stop the golem.

Karli's thinking sped up a huge rate, trying to figure ways to outmanoeuvre the huge boulder grinding the wall before her, which appeared more like just a window. She had no strength to both push back and sidestep, nor could she risk ducking down and hope Marcus would just fly over her, in a children's show maybe. The kirlia realised she only had one option to stop her from getting utterly crushed, while trying to hold her Reflect in place with one hand, she tried to use her right arm to summon more magical leaves. Taking precious seconds, five glowing leaves appeared and Karli immediately swung them forward. The leaves simply passed through the Reflect and appear to explode in green, forcing the giant wrecking ball back.

Marcus continued to spin at a blinding rate for a while after taking the Magical Leaf attack, but after bouncing twice off the floor, he was suddenly grabbed in mid-air by McGregor who then slammed him onto the ground. Upon the dusknoir's pin, the golem's head and arms flung out, clearly showing he had passed out. Seeing the position, McGregor immediately let go.

'What the hell is going on here!' yelled Gem, running down from the other end of the corridor.

During the chaos, multiple pokémon, both refugees and Crimson staff had gathered behind Karli and down where the toxicroak was running from.

Karli fell onto her bottom, but then noticed something worrying. Her hands and hair flashed blue, once. Knowing it was evolution, she gasped and grappled herself angrily.

'No, no!' she grunted, still flashing inconsistently. 'No.'

The kirlia only flashed blue once more, which then stopped trying to make her evolve. McGregor watched her resist it yet again, however his concern was for the golem and toxicroak who approached.

* * *

It was perhaps their most awkward escape ever, when Glim and Shadow rushed down the corridors they were directed and then trying to walk through a crowded cafeteria as inconspicuous as they dared. Glim being a little glaceon seemed to be well hidden with all the bigger scarier monsters around, while the houndoom was more of a welcomed sight it seemed as dark types were common in any Crimson site.

The big hound pokémon was keeping a more confident walk, in spite of being beaten already and moving through a dangerous base who were oblivious to their escape. However, Shadow was more concerned for his little boyfriend ahead of him who had a much tenser walk. Glim's ears were erect, while his tail was hardened and restless.

'Keep moving sweetheart.' whispered Shadow, nodding at the stairs.

Glim only nodded, looking back slightly. The glaceon was still hurt about leaving Beryl behind, feeling numb about the area he was passing through as though he was invisible. Shadow occasionally had to give Glim's bottom a slight prod with his nose whenever the little glaceon slowed.

The houndoom and glaceon made it up the stairs and through the desolate fire exit, seemingly unnoticed. The fire doors were much harder to open than they looked, so it was little surprise that there was no one guarding the other side when Glim and Shadow got out. They found their selves on a lonesome path that neighboured the underground railway. It was unclear if it was the same one they were on when they tried to find the base they escaped from. The long platform was likely to be some underground fire station or maintenance bay. Along the wall was a frame of sorts, which Shadow assumed to be a map and quickly strode over to it, leaving the glaceon to still drift in his numb status. Annoyingly for the houndoom, the frame had its map taken from it. Glim and Shadow had no idea which way they were facing, let alone where the centre was.

Near the broken frame was another set of stairs. Its plastic guards were down, but some had clearly broke through it as there was a giant hole covering most of it. Upstairs was the dangerous ground floor, still lit up on fire in spite it was still only early morning.

Just when Shadow took a peek up the stairs, he and Glim decided they must run up it as soon as they noticed the rising shouts of multiple pokémon coming from the fire exit far behind them. The doors had closed on their own, though not completely, giving the two boys the chance to escape without a sight.

'Shit we have to go!' whispered Shadow quickly, bolting up the stairs alongside Glim.

The old fire doors burst open, almost tearing off their hinges. A male garchomp was first to leave their base, followed by numerous CR soldiers, a swampert, a mightyena, two luxray, a mandibuzz, an aggron and three inkay. As soon as they left the fire exit, they began to argue, debating which way they should pursue. There was the obvious stairway at the end of the platform they stood on, but for all they know, the fugitives could have escaped down either side on the railway.

'Then split up!' demanded Charlotte, flying out of the exit and hovering above her comrades. 'If the Republic finds them, the base is screwed! We must kill them! You three,' she pointed at the two luxray and mightyena, 'take the tracks, left!' immediately, the luxray brothers and mightyena leaped onto the tracks and darted into the darkness. 'You, you and you,' she pointed at the swampert, madibuzz and aggron. 'Take the other side! The rest of you, we're going up!'

Without a second to spare the serious mismagius sped toward the stairway, already overtaking the three she directed down the train tunnel next to it. The three inkay appeared to levitate also, tailing Charlotte while keeping their distance from each other, like their minds were one. The garchomp meanwhile had an eager face about him, excited to run around the ground level.

During their flight up the stairs, the Inkay joined up together and glowed, while Charlotte gave to order to send out an emergency assignment.

* * *

Underneath Haine's central station, the incredibly crowded Crimson Revolution base was continuing its unending noise. Within the hive of locked down train cars was carriage B244, being used as a shelter for children it seemed. Even with the giant retro steel doors closed, the inside was still affected by outside noises, even with the children inside only whispering or trying to sleep. It was the carriage Ben and Meg had been assigned to, with a few other foster figures in the Crimson. Ideally, these were the territorial members who would fight for Crio's salvation, but would prioritise their objectives over the young and vulnerable.

Ben was finishing up some paper work and stacking it under a drawer in the makeshift office that was once the driver's canopy. While the garbodor finished his work, a bayleef peeked her head through the doorway.

'Hey Ben,' whispered Meg.

'Yeah?' he replied, glancing back.

'I've put her to bed.'

The bayleef backs away from the door and looks over at one of the small beds, just above the car floor. Tucked in masses of white fluffy blankets was Terri, facing the wall and only trying to sleep.

'How is she?' whispered Ben, also staring at the timid cranidos with a sorrowful expression.

The bayleef paused for a moment. 'I can't say she'll recover from what she's lost already. I mean that's… I would to be in her feet right now.'

'She's with us now,' said Ben, patting Meg. 'It's up to us to keep her safe, okay? Maybe she will move on from what has happened.'

The large plant-dinosaur then looked at the garbodor with a very depressive expression and slowly shook her head.

She whispered, 'She's lost her family, her best friend and was blamed for it. Now, she's orphaned in the middle of revolution, Ben.'

'We've-'

'That's a lot to have to endure, especially for a child.'

'We've handle this before, Meg. Even when a child is an emotional wreck, I will do my level best to save them.'

'So are you staying here tonight?'

'Yes, I've asked Selly to stay in underground for now. I think Terri doesn't want to see anymore new faces looking after her.'

Meg passed the garbodor into the office, 'Did Selly ask you for her package?'

'Package?'

'I'm sure- i-it's still here, look.'

As the bayleef moved herself into the office to let Ben peek at the package she was referring to, an old radio placed on a nearby shelf began to buzz. It then followed by stuttering muffled overlapping voices which took Ben's attention immediately.

'This is an emergency assignment from "Magical Ghost",' spoke a light mechanical voice, speaking over the frequencies that got quieter. 'Escapees, consisting of a glaceon and houndoom, males.' Ben's eyes widened and drew closer to the radio, practically leaning his junk manifested ear against it. 'Escape was south of "Underschool", leaving the Egg sector and likely heading for any rendezvous point within Polka Dot sector. Possibly-'

Suddenly the calm mechanical voice was interrupted by the voice of Charlotte, telling her bronzor to shut up as she took over the announcement.

'Listen! These two were Republic spies and they know where one of our bases is! A glaceon and a houndoom, if they get back to them up there, a lot more are going to die! Assist immediately at Polka Dot, anywhere you can! We're on the hunt for them.'

'Oh my god.' said Ben, backing away.

The bayleef coming out of the office had not heard the call, but recognised the garbodor's reaction.

'What?' she asked worriedly.

Ben carefully rushed to open the train hatch door.

'I-I'm going to need you to stay here, Meg.' he whispered loudly, unwilling to wake any sleeping children.

'Wait, what?' Meg asked again as the garbodor slid opened the door. 'Ben!'

Without another word, the giant trash heap pokémon squeezed out and closed the door right behind him. In spite of his size and weight, Ben rushed through the crowds rather swiftly.

* * *

'You decided to pick a fight with Marcus?' asked Gem, angrily, accompanied by Maladan the blastoise.

'I didn't want to "pick a fight" with him,' argued Karli. 'I only wanted to talk to him!'

The toxicroak folded her arms.

'And from what others were telling me, you threw the first attack.'

'And that's because he was attacking everyone else!'

'That's Marcus, little kirlia, you may not have known this, but when he's pissed we try to stay the hell out of his way.'

'So you let him bully others, which may end up risking their lives. I know that too well.' she gave a quick glance at her father. 'Like in that fight just now, I was fighting for my life after just getting his attention.'

'You got his attention by shooting leaves at him!'

'And you're trying to justify him? Fuck off.'

'Enough!' shouted McGregor, coming between the kirlia and toxicroak which forced the poisonous frog back near the giant blastoise. 'Just, stop a second, both of you!' he said, holding out his arms to separate the two girls. 'Karli, you overreacted! Marcus was not to blame for his distress, he had just heard the loss of his child.' Karli meanwhile was clenching her fists and teeth in anger, but also regret. 'If that was me, if I had lost you, I would have done the same.'

'I know! …I know dad.' the kirlia sulked. 'But this was about Terri.'

'I'm afraid she has a point.' said the dusknoir, turning to face the toxicroak behind him. 'None of this might have happened had you not been too hard on her.'

'Oh so it's my fault that she didn't take responsibility?' replied Gem.

At that moment, Maladan stepped forward, placing his claw over Gem's torso and shaking his head, indicating her to stop talking.

'Let's not add fuel to the fire here.' said Maladan. 'Everyone made a mistake and took it too far. Marcus will recover, but he will want some space, okay?' his question was mainly directed at Karli, who replied with a nod. 'As for you two, grow a pair.'

'Is everybody alright?' asked McGregor, referring to the people involved in Marcus' rampage.

'Damages were little to the tunnel and the three cadets were only thrown about.'

'Okay, good.'

Karli folded her arms.

'If you're unwilling to make us part of the Crimson, can we at least stay down here? You know, to- to help out underground if we can?'

'Actually Karli,' replied Maladan, approaching her. 'We may not tolerate fighting amongst allies, but your stand against Marcus was quite the phenomenon. Marcus is a king of the cage here, and you alone knocked him out in his rage.' Karli glanced at the toxicroak behind Maladan, who was nodding in her annoyance. 'If anything, we could do with more toughs like you.'

The kirlia stared up at the blastoise with a bit of surprise in her eyes.

'Really?'

'Leave Marcus and her over there to me,' he nodded to the toxicroak behind him. 'You were being seen by one of our nurses, correct?'

Karli stuttered, remembering the leavanny nurse but forgetting her name.

McGregor then interjected. 'Kylie, yes.'

'Good, I'll grant her permission to initiate you.' Maladan turned, but then glanced back at the kirlia. 'She hasn't done one yet, so there may be mistakes. Is it just you two?'

'No,' replied Karli. 'There were a lot of us when we first came, including Angel, um Glim, Shadow, Beryl and Terri.'

'Terri is not…' interjected McGregor. Karli glanced back at him. 'You will have to talk to her, later though.'

Karli sighed.

'Hold,' said the blastoise. 'Confirm you said "Glim and Shadow".'

'I-I did.' the kirlia replied, somewhat hopeful.

'Species?'

'Glim's a glaceon and Shadow is uh… um, a houndoom.'

'Both boys.' the dusknoir added.

'Yeah.'

Maladan's eyes widened slightly. He glanced back at Gem.

'You did witness the Republic attacking them?'

Gem replied, 'They were ambushed, north entrance, all of them. That usual formation they take.'

The blastoise then interrupted, looking back at Karli and McGregor. 'Right, then you two report to Kylie, she'll help you. I have a call to make.'

As Maladan turned to leave, Karli interjected.

'Wait what's happened? Where are they?' she cried.

Neither the blastoise nor toxicroak replied, picking up their pace as they left.

* * *

The Polka Dot sector was almost completely unshielded by the upper level and out in the open for aerial attacks, like its neighbouring sectors of Trap and Egg to the north. It was also the biggest sector out in the open, making it the most vulnerable part of Haine to be in for any refugee or revolutionary, especially with the Storm Walk constantly eyeing the whole city.

Glim and Shadow sprinted up a courtyard toward a badly bombed hotel. It was a big mistake as they ended up running out into an open space. The glaceon having to sustain less injuries got inside the tall remains of the building first, while the houndoom followed at a slower pace. Glim glanced back fearfully, to see that Shadow was still in great pain, clenching his teeth.

'Shadow,' cried Glim. 'You alright?'

The hound reached the hotel's reception, as there were no doors left, only a massive hole on both sides, like a train burst through it.

'I'll be fine!' he growled. 'Let's just hide, for now-'

'Oh shit!'

Immediately the glaceon beamed his rainbow laser at an inkay that was slowly swooping toward the main entrance. It appeared to be preparing an attack, but then quickly bounced away.

'What was that?' asked Shadow.

'We have to go, now!'

After giving his boyfriend one nudge toward the gigantic hole ahead of them Glim darted through it. The glaceon ran straight, heading for a pedestrian subway, followed closely behind by Shadow. He swiftly made it to the subway and practically dived down the long flat stairs. The tunnel was quite long and appeared to end at a bus station. The glaceon skidded to a stop, glancing back at Shadow who was further back. The station in question was not underground, however the tunnel which Glim had taken kept him under a concrete shelter.

Suddenly a huge warm sensation grabbed Glim's attention as he noticed a massive ring of fire heading straight for him. Immediately he dived forward, having enough time to dodge the attack as it brushed all along the walls and floor. Deep within the parking lot of blown up buses, a purple figure swooped from the sky. It was Charlotte and she only had one inkay floating with her.

The glaceon bolted ahead, staying under the shelter as the mismagius stopped to hail a barrage of Shadow Ball ahead of Glim. Unwilling to stop, the glaceon took a risky dive roll to his right, narrowly dodging a ball of shadows that exploded near him, which caused him to roll with great momentum. He then ran behind the supporting pillars, hoping what was left of them would protect him, when he was met with an enormous force blowing him against the wall he was running alongside. The glaceon bounced from the wall and crashed across the floor still in his speed. He knew the attack would stop and predicted Charlotte to come for him directly. True to his instincts, the large hatted ghost pokémon zoomed for him and was zipping over the railing when Glim stood, simultaneously inhaling and firing a Shadow Ball of his own. Charlotte had no time to prepare or dodge the close range attack, since she was closing in on Glim and noticed it too late. The mismagius could only brace herself as she appeared to explode in darkness and fly back from the dark clouds and into a disused coach.

Further behind, Glim hoped to see Shadow just behind him, but he appeared to be struggling. The houndoom was shaking his head in rage, under some sort of control from a lone inkay, who he was trying desperately to attack as flames beamed all along the air, burning nothing.

'Shadow!' cried Glim, shooting another ball of shadows for the idly floating squid.

Despite the distance and pace of the Shadow Ball, Glim managed to hit the inkay in one try, making it too fly out of a cloud of shadows, though it appeared fatally injured. Nearby the aching houndoom, the inkay crashed, losing its right tentacle and had a crater in its head, pouring a blue liquid as it twitched violently.

Shadow was quick to shake off his confusion. He sprinted after his glaceon the moment his vision cleared and seeing that his houndoom was okay, Glim continued to head for the opposite end of the bus station. The path in which they were running led to another subway tunnel. Witnessing the two boys escaping, Charlotte picked herself up angrily and noticed her inkay was no longer with her. Having seen were Glim and Shadow were going, she levitated into the air.

Down the tunnel, there was an alternate path heading underground and figuring it would be best to stay safe from an aerial attack Glim ran down the stairs. He and Shadow ran so fast, they ended up crash rolling as soon as they hit the floor. They continued to run, finding their selves not in a train platform, but what appeared to be an abandoned farmer's market. All of the stalls were blanketed in very country fashion, however their mould, debris and dust took the exotic appeal of it.

The glaceon and houndoom were forced to take a left turn, heading down the main isle of the underground market. Suddenly the wall they left behind them exploded, they took one glance back as they ran and at that moment, multiple pokémon were charging from the dust cloud and up the stairs in which Glim and Shadow came from. They were totally oblivious of the two boys who continued to run. However, as the glaceon looked forward again he noticed the last to come from the hole, which was a huge garchomp who took a second to survey and caught eye contact with Glim. The garchomp or 'Bladeface' as he is known by, chose not to waste his breath and call back his allies and instead shot down the isle in pursuit.

Glim had hoped he was only seeing things, but rapid and loud footsteps sent a clear warning to him, in fact grave danger. Bladeface, despite being a bipedal dragon, he was furiously faster than the glaceon and houndoom. When the garchomp was close enough he leaped up directly above the two, almost scraping his shark fin against the ceiling. Glim only had enough time to do an awkward spin as he ran, allowing him to face upward as he hurled an Ice Shard at the flying dragon. Bladeface was badly vulnerable to ice attacks, however the cold only tickled his torso. His bigger problem was the Ice Shard forcing him upward enough to rebound against the ceiling and sending him twirling until he slammed onto the ground.

The glaceon tumbled across the floor after making his interception, however his momentum allowed him to continue running again. Glim and Shadow made it to the other end of the market and took a right turn, which led them upstairs to another pedestrian subway. They unknowingly took a wrong turn, meaning it would take them much longer to get to Haine's central station. However, they had lost the majority of the Crimson, other than the lunatic garchomp.

Once again, the glaceon and houndoom found themselves out in the open, only that time on what used to be a main road, elevated next to a totally destroyed residential block. There were black craters along the road, destroyed buses and lorries scattered all around. Unaware of where the road may lead, Glim continued his sprint followed by his struggling houndoom. But when passed the first remains of an overturned burnt black bus, a deafening sound of the ground shattering echoed. Far behind the two boys, Bladeface burst out from the pedestrian subway, without taking the stairs and continued to fly into the air. He may have appeared as one small navy speck, but it was evident to the glaceon that the garchomp was still on them and knew which way they were heading. Also in the air, though much further away a confused mismagius heard the eruption of concrete, then spotted Bladeface in the distance madly heading in another direction. When the garchomp dived down out of her sight, Charlotte instructed the Crimson far below her 'over there' and just flew above the tremendous wall that separated them and the fugitives they hunted.

When Bladeface struck the ground, the road shook simultaneously, somehow propelling the glaceon and houndoom into the air and crashing violently onto the broken surface. All in seconds the road went from smooth and flat with multiple craters to receiving millions of cracks, trenches and stray rocks chipped from it. Glim managed to roll smoothly in spite of the suddenly rough terrain, but Shadow yelled out upon his impact.

The houndoom twitched, covered in ash and artificial rock. He was able to move, but great pain was overcoming him in his movements. Glim meanwhile rushed by his side, trying to pick him up.

'Shadow!' he cried. 'Come on, get up!'

Suddenly, two loud sounds of something landing on the bus caught Glim's attention as he glanced up at it. The garchomp was poised on the corroded metal with a smile.

Knowing that dragons were vulnerable to ice, Glim spun to face the giant dragon and tried to breathe out his freezing wind. Instead he only breathed out air, in an awkward pause. The glaceon completely forgot how to use Icy Wind. Bladeface meanwhile leaped down, having learned to not jump so high and intended to approach with swift sidestepping. The garchomp approached by each movement as Glim resorted to throwing solid ice chunks at him. Most of the Ice Shard attacks missed Bladeface in his very quick dodging, but when one would hit, it would only jolt him back a little and pause him temporarily. But then the glaceon received help from the incapacitated hound, who blew a stream of fire at the huge dragon who first blocked the attack before leaping back.

Glim intended to keep the garchomp from getting any closer by throwing ice at the floor near him, creating sharp spears of ice, not that it would stop Bladeface, but it would buy the glaceon and houndoom time. Unfortunately, time was not something they had.

'Glim!' cried Shadow quickly. 'Heads up!'

As soon as the glaceon tilted his head up, he could already feel the intense heat of a fiery ring that was practically on top of them. The flames dispersed into them and spread across the ground, heating little Glim hot enough to scream. Something else happened at that moment, the glaceon suddenly lost ability to counter, while his boyfriend nearby appeared to be breathing in the flames.

Well above was Charlotte, swooping in with a determined face on Glim and Shadow.

The downed houndoom retaliated by using the flames he had built up and blasting it back out to the diving mismagius. The ghost pokémon merely spun to her left a bit to dodge the laser of flames, who then retaliated by inhaling to create a ball of shadows and shooting it almost point blank at the vulnerable glaceon. The Shadow Ball exploded, covering the area in black fog as a pained grunt could be heard, followed by a metallic thud.

'No, Glim!' shouted Shadow, just when Charlotte flew by.

The dark fog dissipated, revealing the glaceon to be pushed against the road guard. The left side of his body was covered in scratches, face squinting in pain while his left ear twitched. Shadow meanwhile was also uncovered, giving Bladeface the opportunity to leap over the ice spikes and intercept the houndoom.

In the air, Charlotte who was upside down was drawing closer on Glim as her garchomp ally arced in the air, about to crush Shadow regardless of how he would land on him. At that moment, on top of the towering wall neighbouring the road on its right, a pokémon grappled with poorly made hooks and swung over at a great speed.

'Stop!' yelled Ben, letting go to shoot out his arm, stretching for the metal guard next to Glim.

In a flash, the giant rubbish bag pulled himself toward the vulnerable glaceon, crossing paths with Bladeface and budging him enough to miss his target. But as soon as Ben crashed between Glim and Charlotte, the mismagius had already fired a Shadow Ball which the garbodor was forced to endure.

As another dark ball discharged smoke, Bladeface landed barely catching himself.

Charlotte descended for a closer look, only realising that someone had intervened. When the darkness faded enough, Charlotte could see the garbodor to be wearing a scarf of Crimson.

The mismagius, looked back at the garchomp and ordering him to hold before glaring back at Ben.

'Identify yourself!' she demanded.

The garbodor tried to sit up, 'My name is Ben,' he grunted, ignoring the pain in his back.

Glim's ears twitched as he looked up as far as he could at the garbodor.

'Ben?' Glim stuttered weakly.

'My station is at Haine's Central, and I don't have a battlefront codename, because I work for the refugees, underground.'

'Service?' Charlotte asked.

'Foster.'

The mismagius paused, disbelieving the garbodor. 'You're "friends" were infiltrating one of our bases! How do you know they're not spies?'

'Trust me, I know! I know these guys!'

Bladeface responded with a disturbing, multitoned girly laugh.

The mismagius also seemed reluctant and shook her head.

'Anybody could make that story, garbodor-'

Suddenly Charlotte heard an eerie screech echoing in her head, which was one of her inkay contacting her.

'I'm engaged, what?' yelled Charlotte.

'Charlotte, Maladan.' the blastoise answered, communicating via telepathic messaging.

'Maladan? The hell do you want?'

'Have you engaged the glaceon and houndoom?'

'We're on top of them right now! About to execute!'

'Negative, negative! They're allies, confirmed by accomplices of theirs, a kirlia, dusknoir and weavile. They arrived in Haine this morning.'

'What, all of them?'

'Affirm, they were ambushed and got separated. Let them go and rejoin at Central, now!'

Maladan's voice was followed by a buzzing squeal, much like how a radio would cut out. Charlotte looked upward in annoyance, while her comrades were clamouring over the wall or climbing through wreckage that was the pedestrian subway destroyed by Bladeface. The mismagius wavered at the two crews of revolutionaries to back away.

'Bladeface, step off!' the garchomp stepped back from the houndoom. 'Ah, shit.' Charlotte muttered.

'Ben?' whispered Glim again.

The garbodor finally got up on his makeshift feet and surveyed the little glaceon and houndoom, who were equally damaged.

'Glim!' called Shadow, unable to see him. 'Honey are you alright?'

The garbodor was suddenly able to grow a smile as he carefully picked up the glaceon.

'He'll be alright Shadow.' replied Ben.

'B-Ben?' the houndoom replied, finally looking up to see that it was the same one he knew. 'Is that actually you mate?'

The garbodor had difficulty turning round to face the downed houndoom as he had taking great damage to his right shoulder and back. However, Glim's weight was nothing for the giant rubbish pokémon.

Bladeface meanwhile stood idly looking up at Charlotte, ordering everyone to evacuate before the Republic were made aware of their gathering. As soon as the soldiers received the update and new orders, they dispersed in adjacent directions, some even fled passed Ben, Glim and Shadow.

'We need to get those two back to the base!' said Charlotte, swooping toward Ben. 'Are you alright?'

'For now, mam,' replied Ben. 'I'll take Glim.'

'Affirm,' Charlotte glanced at the garchomp. 'Bladeface, you take the houndoom, now let's go!'

From the glaceon's point of view, he felt like a helpless baby being carried by Ben in that way. He heard Shadow call out 'easy' when the garchomp picked him up, though Glim could not see them. All he could see was the constant black sky that gradually appeared to get lighter. Glim only saw Charlotte overhead once and that was her leading Ben and Bladeface through the quickest route to Haine Central station. It was a bumpy ride for Glim, but being so exhausted he leaned to his left and closed his eyes.

* * *

Angel thrusted forward, grunting in pain as he ripped off the ice pack from his back. He was clearly still sore and a little harnessed by pain. He seemed eager to get off the bed and rolled off despite the leavanny nurse trying to keep him on it.

Karli and McGregor stood nearby in silence, though the kirlia was looking down in a mix of emotions. She wanted to know what happened to Glim, Shadow and Beryl. She wanted to find Terri. She wanted to know if Angel was going to be okay. She kept an eye out for the toxicroak Gem, in case she was up for another fight or argument. She was still angry at Marcus for his retaliation and rampage, yet angry at herself too. She just wanted something to happen, instead of just standing around waiting with all those feelings plaguing her.

'Piss off!' said Angel, trying to pass Kylie, who continued to bandage his burned arm.

'A-Angel.' she stuttered.

'Angel, she is trying to help.' interjected McGregor.

'I'm fine!' the weavile grunted, swiping his coat from the folding chair next to his bed. 'If you guys are gonna look for Glim and the others, I'm comin too.'

'That's even if they're in danger,' replied Karli. 'That blastoise didn't say much.' she looked up at her father. 'What about future sight?'

'I have already looked,' answered the dusknoir. 'And as I said earlier, they somehow end up back here.'

'All of them?'

McGregor shook his head in thought, 'I only saw Glim and Shadow.'

Karli remained quiet for a moment, stomping her foot impatiently as Angel adjusted his coat.

'So what are we supposed to do with you anyway?' asked Angel to Kylie.

'Maladan said for me to get your team into the initiation, but I need a superior to witness it. Otherwise anybody could do it.'

'Do you have a superior?'

'Maladan's offered to be-'

'Great, then let's get to it!' said Angel, passing the leavanny and heading for the door whence Karli and McGregor came back.

'Wait, but your friends are going to be part of it!'

Karli nodded, 'yeah Angel, can we just stop? We've already been through enough for one day.'

'Agreed.' added McGregor. 'Glim, Shadow and Beryl have yet to come back.'

The weavile stopped in front of them and sickened.

'And Angel, come on!' continued Karli, pointing at him. 'You probably need a break more than any of us in your state. Are you trying to get yourself killed?'

'Karli.' muttered the dusknoir.

Angel only paused, unsure of what to say, as he did remember the aches and pains he had received in just getting to Haine as well as entering it. His head and fins were still partly sensitive within the single bandage. His claw was also frail from the burn he got.

'Then can we at least go and find them?' asked Angel.

'How?' replied Karli. 'God knows what sector they're in, and Maladan didn't tell us what was happening.'

'So, we're just going to wait?'

McGregor nodded.

The kirlia caught glimpse of her father nodding and actually agreed with the weavile for once and had an impatient look too. Anything but to wait around.

'Then I'm going to find Terri.' said Karli, heading for the nearest exit. 'You coming Angel?'

McGregor interjected, 'Karli, Maladan told us to remain with Kylie until further notice. She may be getting orders anytime.'

'Anytime could be a long time and I'm not just hanging around. Besides, this might be an opportunity to have a look around, see where that garbodor is stationed.'

'Speaking of which, this station is huge Karli, you will get lost easily.'

'Dad, I'm psychic. I'll know where to find you okay?'

Angel also headed for the door. 'Don't worry Gregor, I'll go with her. If you're staying here, then we'll be back, okay?'

The giant ghost paladin folded his arms.

'Do not get into trouble you two.'

The kirlia and weavile quickly left, keen to escape the quiet motionless atmosphere.

'Take care Angel!' called Kylie.

Forgetting that the 'medical bay' was once an office on a platform, Karli almost walked off the platform and just managed to keep her balance as she then bumped into Angel.

'Yeah, there's a drop there, watch out.' said the weavile.

The kirlia moved down the platform shaking her head, a little embarrassed.

'Yes thank you, I know now.'

Angel quickly caught up, walking beside Karli as they approached the crowds. Since it was morning, more and more pokémon were waking and preparing for their missions or tasks for the day.

'You had to get outta there?' asked Angel.

'Yeah.' sighed Karli. 'I honestly have no clue where Terri went, and this place is huge. And I sure don't remember that code the garbodor said that was his train car.'

'Terri couldn't have gotten far, but-'

'It's still a needle in a haystack, I mean just look.'

Angel nodded as Karli pointed at the many children and adult pokémon swarming on the platforms, both on ground and in the air.

Though he knew Karli was right, the weavile felt a stroke he had not felt in a while.

'Well we can still find her, was it just a garbodor you were with?'

That air of positivity was familiar to the kirlia, though she seemed to not ask about it.

'There was the garbodor and a bayleef, and a lot of children. I remember that much.'

'That's a start, maybe they were fostering.'

'Y-yeah, they were.' she replied excitedly, 'who do we talk to find um… organisers or whatever?'

The weavile shook his head.

'We'll figure that out, maybe management is up there?'

He pointed at the stairs at the centre of that platform, which led to Haine's station refugee supplies and access to the southern-side platforms.

* * *

Glim found himself in a void, sort of knowing he was asleep. He could hear pained grunting in the background, behind him and in front of him. Little did he know that those voices were of Ben and Shadow getting treated for their injuries.

'You have done well Glim.'

It was her voice again, a voice the glaceon had only heard in his sleep so far.

'It's you again.' he replied.

'Yes, and well done for saving your friends from entering Larkspur.'

'Why did you have me do that anyway?' for a moment, the female kept quiet. 'Have you come to warn me about something?'

'Indeed Glim, for I cannot help with what is going to happen at where you lay right now. At all. We have tried damn near everything. I am afraid, what happens Glim, will happen.'

'What will happen?'

'It is Martyr, Glim. That monster is biding its time and will show up when you least expect it. The underground tracks will literally flood in blood.'

'What, how do you know this?' he asked worriedly, but again she kept quiet. 'W-well? When does he appear?'

'That I cannot tell either. It has been different every time we tried to stop it or save your friends.'

Glim paused.

'My friends? Are you saying he's coming after my friends?'

'It is after all of your friends, Glim. It is after you for surviving its first attack and your friends for the same reason or even knowing it. McGregor was also on its list for being able to see into the future. When you are all together, along with the very warlord Commander Rancour, it will try to bury everything alive.' she and Glim paused. 'You and your friends are its only survivors, and by killing the Crimson's leader, Martyr will become unknown once again, while the president will destroy Crio.'

'Oh my god.' the glaceon muttered. 'Can you tell me who it will kill? Maybe I can save them.'

'Glim… I can only tell you, that you must accept what will happen. You are going to lose friends Glim, and you must move on when it happens.'

The glaceon paused, feeling as though something cold and tight gripped his legs.

'But… why is Martyr doing this?'

The female paused.

'That, is an unavoidable event for you Glim. Now wake up.'

Suddenly the little ice quadrupedal opened his eyes, finding himself on a cheap rubbery mattress, with his head on an unexpectedly soft pillow. He was for some reason breathless as he just laid on his left side. Glim would get up, but he became so distant and in shock to hear of what the mysterious voice had said to him. Even with his eyes open, neither Ben sitting on the bed in front of him or either of the two nurses noticed he was awake. The glaceon just remained there, motionless, just knowing he was going to lose friends froze him.

Glim was in a more developed medical bay, as opposed to where Angel was taken on the floor below. The ceiling actually had bright white lights, and the equipment was present more or less against the wall opposite the glaceon. Glim however had only passed out from exhaustion, so the low table behind him only had fruit, brown bread and high protean food prepared for him.

The nurses were a mawile and a usual azumarill, both male. The azumarill passed the seemingly dead glaceon to check on Shadow further behind Glim, while the mawile was performing a chemical test on Ben's unusual blood. The little nurse had to stand on some apparatus to get to the height to come into contact with the garbodor's arm.

'Everything seems alright.' said the mawile, nodding and frequently checking his graph for poison types.

Ben nodded, 'Great, what about my shoulder though.'

The nurse let go of Ben's arm and disappeared from Glim's sight as he climbed down the apparatus.

'It's been set back in place, but it will still be a bit stiff or hurt. In fact, as a garbodor, your shoulder may be a bit fragile for a while.'

'Okay.' he replied, looking over at Glim. 'Glim, you're awake! You okay buddy?'

Even though the glaceon knew that Ben was alive and had been staring at him for the past few minutes, he still could not believe that the garbodor was right in front of him.

'Ben?' Glim finally whispered.

The garbodor checked around his bed to see if he was hooked up to anything before asking the mawile nurse if he was okay to leave his bed. Though the nurse was already at Glim's bedside.

The mawile climbed his apparatus and gave the glaceon a friendly smile, as if Glim was a baby.

'You okay Glim?' he cooed. Stubbornly, the glaceon nodded, knowing he was far from being okay. 'When you wake up a little more, you have a little breakfast on the table next you. Okay, sweetheart?'

Again, the little glaceon slowly nodded.

The mawile nurse happily climbed down and left.

Ben meanwhile must have forgotten to ask if he could leave his bed, but he easily slid off when he knew no equipment was inserted into him. He then approached Glim's bed and leant on the makeshift plastic guards, intended to stop the patient from falling out.

'God… I never thought I'd see you again Glim.'

The motionless glaceon paused before giving a little smile.

'I didn't think I would see you either.'

'You and Shadow got lucky though, you know? I only came out to find you because I heard that emergency assignment on the radio.'

'Where is Shadow? Is he okay?'

The garbodor nodded, looking passed the glaceon.

'If you roll over, you'll see he is just there.' replied Ben as Glim weakly lifted himself enough to look behind him. Because of the table and plastic guard, the glaceon could not see his houndoom completely, however he could see the machinery at the end of his bed. 'He's not in the best shape right now, his front legs were sprained and he received a concussion during your runaway. He's already thrown up.'

Glim sighed, looking back at Ben when suddenly his long ears sprung up.

'Wait, what about Jane? Where is she?' seeing the glaceon seem so desparate, Ben paused. 'Don't tell me she's dead.'

'No no! At least… I haven't heard of her death yet.'

Glim puzzled, lifting his head from the pillow.

'W-what? What happened?'

The garbodor nodded fearfully, 'A lot.'

* * *

It was three days ago, when Jane, Ben, Meg and Sergeant left the city of Hydrangea, they had a considerably long journey to make. It seemed though that they had received help from two local survivors, one of which could drive a minibus. In the darkness of night, two days ago, Jane sat on the seats almost next to the driver, who was a female scizor. Two rows behind the infernape was Meg the bayleef, who remained staring out into the darkness of the windows. The seats opposite Meg had Ben, keeping an eye on everyone, though he was slumped on his back and resisting sleep. The magnzone however was resting at the back row since it took so much space, and in need of recovery after its fight with Vice Vora. One row in front of the garbodor however, was Tyson, a delibird who was sat looking out the windows in a little misery.

The bus was driven south, having to pass the town of Freesia via country road due to its quarantine, passing down Route 5 to Boronia village, which was over a hundred miles from Hydrangea. Thankfully the country resort Boronia was not dragon raided yet, so it was a simple drive through to Route 2, heading south-east to the town of Narcissus.

At the front, Jane looked back to see everyone still silent and only Ben and Sergeant falling asleep. She then looked ahead, seeing the seemingly endless country road once more. It looked like they had been going down the same road again and again and with it starting to rain, it was difficult to even see anything. Instead, the infernape looked over to the scizor who remained driving tirelessly.

'So who are you?'

The scizor paused.

'My identity does not concern you.'

'It would just be nice to know. You are taking us over a hundred miles to a death zone.'

'I am only driving you to Narcissus. You will have to cross Route 1 and enter Haine yourselves.'

Route 1 was one of the longest routes in Crio, crossing over Lake Uxie and being the main high road to Haine's western entrances. For that reason, Jane was anticipating it be heavily set with traps, ambushes and its own Storm Walk ship, overseeing the end of the Route.

Jane wanted to ask why the scizor was not coming with them, but chose not to. It was a serious question to ask, why someone would want to come to Haine at a time like that. For all she knew, the scizor may have a family.

'How dangerous?' asked Jane.

'Believe it or not, the bridge over Uxie has been abandoned by the Republic.'

'Which one?'

'The Route 1 bridge.'

'No way.'

'It's been abandoned when the 14th Dragon Raid happened in Haine. The Republic realised that very few were taking the main roads to Haine, so they abandoned that perimeter and reset it at Polka Dot's crop centre.'

'That's the… the entrance to that sector from the outside.'

'Exactly, and still is the most used entrance on foot or vehicle. If you're going to cross Lake Uxie, be sure to turn off and take a different entrance, or you will get bombed.'

'Bombed? As in Dragon Raided?' the scizor turned to look at Jane with a sarcastic expression, hinting the obvious using her eyes. 'W-why would they do that? There's only…' the infernape looked back at her friends, hiding in the darkness. 'Five of us.'

'This is the Republic.' answered the scizor. Jane looked forward again, nodding. 'They're willing to murder babies if they think that arceus dislikes them, in fact, they already have.'

The infernape clutched her arm with her hand, knowing how right the scizor was.

Minutes later, the minibus came by a row of buildings and drove by a neighbouring road that suddenly shot up a hill. Narcissus was essentially two towns neighbouring each other as it was formed on top and at the bottom of a sheer cliff. The crew were staying on the lower level, which would lead to Route 1.

The town below was almost desolate, the wet buildings were either broken or boarded up. Though the town looked destroyed, the destruction did not appear to be of aerial attacks.

'What happened here?' asked Jane. 'Did this place get raided too?'

'You could say that.' answered the scizor. 'But not by a Dragon Raid. It was the first town the Republic started 'cleansing'. Their hunt for dark types, but with the power they had… it quickly got out control.'

Just when the giant metallic crimson bug finished what she was saying, she drove by a traveller's hostel that was massively disfigured. Blood was stained like waterfalls from the windows, most of which had lost their glass. The walls that surround the hostel's garden was obliterated, caved in on the flowers that grew in peace.

The minibus came to a stop at a makeshift carpark behind some rusted barn. The bus in particular had its entrance at its front sides, so when the crew had left, the delibird could stop by the scizor before leaving.

'Hey,' said Tyson. 'Aren't you coming with us?' the scizor shook her head. 'But… I thought you said you were going to Haine.'

'Eventually, kid. This was a different assignment.' she glanced at Jane, listening on the conversation along with Ben.

'Okay.' disheartened, the big red bird turned and jumped off.

'Thanks for the lift.' called Ben.

Without an answer, the scizor waved dully and closed the door. It was not long before she had the engine going and drove away.

'Uh, where to now?' asked Tyson, a little timid.

'Route 1.' spoke Sergeant, pointing one of its magnets down a pitch black road, masked by trees. 'It is the quickest route to Haine, and is actually safest.'

'Once we're passed the bridge that is.' interjected Jane.

'Wait, down there?' complained Meg.

'Yes.'

'Wait,' interjected the magnezone. 'What do you mean by "once we're passed the bridge"?'

Jane passed Meg and Sergeant, heading toward the unlit path.

'Apparently, the main bridge is unguarded, so that scizor said. And think about it, if it's Haine the Republic are trying to protect, why would they barricade a big bridge ten miles off?'

'Fair enough, but how're we going to enter Haine from there?'

The infernape stopped.

'I'll think of something. Perhaps we'll take a side road or something.'

Jane continued, entering the path.

'W-wait, Jane!' called Ben.

'What?' she shouted.

The garbodor ran up to the entrance of Route 1.

'Weren't we going to stay here first? Wait until dawn? It's dark, raining and cold right now.'

'Be my guest.'

Still, Jane continued, making Ben sigh as Sergeant approached.

'I'm going with her.'

'Yeah wait up.' replied Ben as the magnezone floated passed him. The garbodor looked back at the little bayleef and delibird. 'You two alright?'

Meg nodded and pursued the magnezone sergeant and infernape. She just did not feel safe in the dark, let alone on a main road that could have an ambush set at any point. Tyson quickly followed, though he was much slower.

'You knew that scizor, mate?'

The garbodor joined the path and walked alongside the delibird.

'Sort of… she helped me escape Hydrangea prison.'

'Oh really? She must have done it when Sergeant busted me and Jane out.'

'I didn't get to ask her name, but she was super strong. She even transformed!'

'Wh- that scizor?'

'Yeah, when the guards blocked one of the corridors, she sort of exploded and got much bigger.'

'Wow… I've never heard of anything like that. Can a scizor use Growth?'

'I don't know.'

The garbodor shrugged, deciding whether or not he should believe the delibird.

'I can see why you looked sad when you left that bus. I'm Ben by the way.' he smiled.

'Tyson.'

* * *

The rain had picked up, when Jane, Meg, Ben, Tyson and Sergeant finally reached the bridge. As was said by a scizor, the site was completely abandoned. There were barricades and giant sandbags, but no one hiding behind them. Two supply lorries were present on the other side, but nobody within the driver canopies. It looked like the sort of place for an ambush, but somehow Jane and Sergeant just knew it was not.

'Finally, it's the bridge.' said Ben, falling onto the cement of the bridge. 'How many more miles?'

Jane interrupted, 'Don't remind me.'

The delibird meanwhile was riding on Meg's back and hiding his head under the bayleef's big leaf on her head. Though Tyson was using the bayleef as an umbrella, Meg was using him to keep her body from the freezing rain.

The one-eyed infernape walked slowly onto the bridge, closely examining the walls of sandbags. However, her extra vigilance was in vain to see nobody whatsoever.

'What is that?' murmured Sergeant, floating up in the middle of the bridge.

'What's what?' asked Jane.

'I'm hearing something on the radio. Like a jammer… but really noisy!'

'Is it a jammer?'

Jane looked up at the magnezone who remained at his height and staring north up Lake Uxie.

'I don't know… whatever it is, but I think it's coming from Origin Traverse.'

Origin Traverse was a massive pond, where all three lakes of Crio flow from. The Sergeant descended to play the noise it was hearing over the radio to Jane. The radio sounded traditional, starting with a loud fuzz, but then it escalated into an incredibly crowded, high pitched noise.

'What the hell is that?' asked Ben, quickly approaching.

Jane gestured for the garbodor to stay quiet.

'That's happening down there?' asked Jane, standing up and looking in the direction of Origin Traverse.

'That is where the transmission is coming from,' replied Sergeant. 'But I have never heard of anything like this. It is so clear, yet so many are audible and screaming.'

The infernape continued to stare up the rest of Lake Uxie, looking for any kind of violent attack, but she was seeing no explosions, no hurricanes or water storms. She looked down at the magnezone who was clearly in deep thought.

'Maybe they're just ghosts. People pissed off with what's happened. This being revolution and all.' said Jane, turning to leave.

'Maybe,' added Ben. 'But that sure is creepy, makes you kind of worried. What if it is a distress call?'

'It couldn't be,' replied Sergeant, turning off his radio. 'Never are they that clear, repetitive and so crowded, that I can hear hundreds.' with the radio off, all they could hear was the rain, as though a ferry had sank in a storm and all its passengers were dragged underwater. It gave Ben the chills. 'Uh- she's off again.'

The garbodor, snapped back to reality when he saw the infernape leaving the bridge.

'Oh crap, Jane, wait up!' called Ben, who then looked back for Meg and Tyson who were just behind them. 'Let's go.'

Together, the four left the bridge to catch up with Jane. Haine was only twenty-two miles away.

* * *

Ben's story ended there, when the azumarill nurse came to see Glim.

'Hello Glim,' she said, pleasantly. 'Can you eat your food please? You're going to need to, to recover faster.'

'Oh!' perked the glaceon, spinning the patient table round so it bridged over his bed, bringing the fruits and buttered bread toward him. He then glanced back at Ben, 'So what happened then?'

Ben paused, looking down, 'Well as Jane said, we took a different way into Haine, and… well. W-we made it, but by the time we got there, it was broad daylight and we were exhausted. So we stayed in an underground refugee site. There, Jane got into a bit of an argument with Sergeant. I tried to break them up, and share each other's thoughts but… Jane, was really becoming inpatient and uncaring. She just wanted Rancour dead and wouldn't stop pacing in the site we were at. Sergeant was trying to persuade her that Nicolai would be better killed, to saving Crio. But Jane wasn't listening… she wanted to get the Crimson back for some reason.'

Glim paused, after taking a bite of his apple. He then swallowed before saying, 'It was for Oswald.' Ben shot the glaceon a look of sympathy. 'It was a drapion who killed him, who was once a member of the Crimson.'

The garbodor looked surprised.

'Really? How do you know that?'

'It was… back in Symphonia, I met an old friend of his.' Glim took another little bite, using both paws to hold the apple. 'What happened to them?'

'Well… I refused to stop Jane's frustration and let her be. So she left that morning… haven't seen her since. As for Sergeant and Tyson, we got separated when we were avoiding some underground squad by going onto the ground level, which was practically on fire already. I don't know what happened to them either.'

Glim sighed.

'I hope they're alright.'


	18. White heretic in metal

Chapter 18:  
'White heretic in metal'

* * *

A day had passed, when little Glim and his boyfriend were hunted by high ranking revolutionaries. Their tiring attempt to escape Bladeface and Charlotte had left them battered and exhausted, and if it was not for Ben Shadow would have been killed. The garbodor too had taken his share of the pain for his interference, but the misunderstanding was resolved. Although, Glim and Shadow were still on rocky terrain with the mismagius after their escape from the CR base in the Polka Dot sector, but also because she had gone to lengths to getting them killed when they were innocent. So for the rest of that day, Maladan and Gem took supervision of the exhausted glaceon and beaten houndoom. Thankfully, they were not hurt too bad and Ben being an amorphous poison type had easy ways to repair his damage.

It was Ben who reunited Glim and Shadow to Karli, McGregor and Angel. The kirlia could not help but throw herself onto the glaceon, embracing him. She had thought they were dead, though that was probably what happened to Beryl, having sacrificed himself for their rescue. Karli was disheartened about the news of their braixen friend and actually, so was Angel, not that he wanted them to know. Nevertheless, they had made it to Haine Central Station, the biggest refuge and headquarters for the Crimson Revolution.

Due to their troubles of getting into Haine, they were spared from having any assignments, since Angel already helped Gem, Kylie and Marcus return safely after completing their mission. Once the crew was mobilised, they were to report to Kylie or Maladan for their initiation.

Their 'room' all of which had to share was part of train car A561 on platform 2, quite far on the north side, which was just as crowded and noisy as the rest of the station. The room they had was only separated from the other rooms by curtains, pulled down the middle of the train car, like a public hospital. Within the space of their dirty cream curtains, were four hay beds and two hammocks. More than enough it seemed for Glim, Angel, Karli, Shadow and McGregor it seemed, but the hay beds were only big enough for the little glaceon and kirlia. The giant dusknoir however was not going to fit in any of the provided beds, so he volunteered to rest afloat, something ghost pokémon could do, though while still resting, they would become unable to control their movements. The two dark type men meanwhile took the hammocks, very close to the ceiling. It was obvious they had held very heavy pokémon before them.

Even though dark eyed, exhausted from the journey, all the running into Haine and around it and the lights off, Glim was having great difficulty sleeping. Like a brick was set in his head, but he just could not turn off. He just laid curled up in a ball in his patch of hay, looking at the silhouette of the train window through the curtains. It was still too noisy. Even though it was the next morning since they set off, the glaceon just could not sleep, or at least he could not get any more than what rest he got at the medical bay. At least that place was quiet enough. The little area was dark, and the neighbouring rooms had pokémon sleeping too somehow, so it was much quieter than being outside at least. But Glim could not help trying to get more and more comfortable to fall asleep, yet he just could not. He was facing the other side of the room, where Karli's hay bed was. It seemed she too was accepting that she was not going to sleep at all. The kirlia was laid on her back, her big head resting her hands and facing upward. Maybe she was also looking at the window silhouette like Glim was, just waiting for the time to pass.

'Karli?' Glim whispered.

Quickly the kirlia rolled her head to face the big eyes of Glim, who still looked so pretty even in his morning drowsiness.

'Yeah?' she whispered back.

'Have you been up all night as well?'

'I don't know… I've been awake for a while now.'

Glim paused, thinking of something to say, but then he remembered a question he wanted to ask before.

'Karli, what happened to Terri?'

The blue haired kirlia paused, staring sadly at the glaceon.

* * *

The day before, Angel stood with his back against train car B244, the one Ben and Meg were caring for both refugee children and orphans. The weavile waited, nothing detectable in his expression, he was just keeping out of a situation it seemed.

Inside, it was noisy as ever, like a primary school classroom. Other children were running around loudly, shouting out while playing their games. There was Kiera the meowth hanging on her risen bed, out of reach of Bergs, a little sewaddle who complained that he could not reach that high to tag her. Neighbouring the cranidos' bed was Zack the sneasel, just watching his friends further up the car. He was still injured from when Karli used Terri to attack him back in the mall. Zack's right claw was bandaged and was probably told to stay in bed, not that he seemed to mind.

Terri meanwhile was sat on her bed next to Karli, managing to block out the noises of the children. The kirlia had her arm around Terri with a saddened look in her eyes, while the little dinosaur was looking downward with a similar expression. The room felt silent to them, as if they were in their own void.

'So you're not… coming back?' asked Karli, pulling Terri until she was leaning on her. Terri paused and shook her head. 'What happened to Austin wasn't your fault, sweetheart.' the kirlia began stroking the cranidos. 'He wanted to go to Haine, and you didn't want to be left behind.'

'But I could've stopped him.' stuttered Terri. 'I should've told his mother that we were sneaking out… but, I was scared that he would hate me for it.'

The cranidos burst into tears, not so violently as before, like she was already exhausted from crying so much. Karli reached her other arm around Terri to hug her.

'You weren't responsible for his death though. And it wasn't right for that bitch to yell at you like that.' Karli paused. 'I- had a bit of a fight with them after what they said to you. And uh… we're on a rocky relation with them now, but it seems that Angel and I will get into the Crimson. I asked if you could be part of us, but my father told me about your decision.'

'I don't want to get in your way.' Terri uttered.

'I know… I just, wanted to see you before we joined. Just to know you would be safe.'

Terri paused.

'I shouldn't have come…' she said, her voice suddenly taking a serious tone. 'I would've been safe at Camellias, but…' Terri paused, shaking her head. 'I lost my family, I lost my only friend… and now, I don't know where I am. I just want to go home.'

She broke down again as Karli could think of nothing to say and hold her tighter. The kirlia was at a dilemma, she really wanted to help the poor cranidos, but could not think of any words that would help in her circumstance. Terri had lost far more than her, having to live with a family who once bullied her, then make a long, dark and dangerous journey to the heart of the revolution with a bunch of strangers to her. Perhaps worst of all, she was just a child.

Eventually, Karli decided to let Terri get her pain out of her system and hope she will recover in time. It was the only solution she could think of. When the cranidos stopped, the arm and shoulder which she cried on was very wet. She then released herself from the kirlia's embrace.

'I'm sorry.' Terri stuttered, struggling to maintain herself.

Karli shook her head, her hands on the arms of the little dinosaur.

'No it's alright Terri, it's alright.'

The cranidos paused again, breathing deeply and looked down.

'Just leave me,' she whispered. 'I'm not your problem anymore.'

Now Karli was feeling her lips tremble as a lone tear overflowed from her right eye. She wanted to tell Terri that she was never a problem for her or her friends. She wanted to hold her again. She wanted to stay with the cranidos for a little longer. But, she knew there was no saving what was left of Terri, at least there and then, so she gave the little dinosaur a kiss on her head and stood up to leave.

'We'll… come visit you, okay?' Karli uttered.

Terri only nodded, not even looking up at the kirlia's eyes.

* * *

'Shut, up!' roared Angel.

Immediately, Glim and Karli bounced from where they laid, squeaking in fright. The weavile was evidently sick from hearing Karli's story and decided to cut them off. The houndoom nearby struggled in his hammock as he thrashed out of his sleep.

'Wha- what's happening?' cried Shadow, glancing round the dark space.

It was quite likely that Angel had woken everyone who may have been sleeping in the train car, which became the worry for Glim who looked at the curtains around him. Karli meanwhile hand cupped her mouth, desperately resisting to laugh. Further down the car, there were two voices that muttered 'shut up' back, but that was all the glaceon could hear.

After Angel's poor attempt to quiet his roommates, Karli and Glim gave up in trying to sleep, so the two of them accompanied by Shadow left the train car. McGregor remained floating outside, with his arms folded as though he was somehow asleep despite the vast noise of the station.

'Dad?' said Karli, puzzling at the giant dusknoir. 'Hey dad.'

The little kirlia waved her hand within the giant ghost, making him mumble and fidget before suddenly waking up.

'Oh Karli,' said McGregor, shaking his head while his one eye flickered. 'What is going on?'

'How the hell can you sleep out here?'

'When you get older you'll understand.'

'You said that about Bargain Hunt, and I still find that boring as hell.'

The dusknoir looked at the three friends, noticing the weavile was not present.

'Where's Angel?'

'He got pissy and wanted to sleep more, and we're bored.'

McGregor looked down, wondering what they could do. They were due to have their initiation that day, but only when Kylie or Maladan were available and when their whole crew had come together. Angel meanwhile wanted more time and secretly so did Shadow, he was having difficulty walking with his front left paw after his impact the day before.

'Shadow and I haven't been here long.' spoke Glim.

'Yeah,' agreed Shadow. 'It would be nice to know the place, or at least the exits.'

Karli glanced around and shook her head.

'We haven't been around much either,' she replied. 'This place is huge.'

'All the more reason to know the whereabouts.' said McGregor. 'Let us stick together though, this is a bad place to get lost.'

The glaceon and kirlia nodded.

'Hey whatever happened to Ben, Jane, that magnezone and bayleef?' asked Shadow. 'Are they here too?'

'Ben and Meg are, yeah.' answered Karli, Glim meanwhile paused coldly. 'Who were the other two?'

'Jane's not here.' replied Glim in a serious tone. 'Sergeant got separated from Ben, along with another friend they met.'

'Did… Ben tell you this?' asked Shadow.

The glaceon quickly nodded.

'Ben's at a fostering train,' interjected Karli. 'Looking after refugee children and orphans.'

Shadow smiled.

'That sounds like him, do you mind if I see him?'

Glim and McGregor already began walking toward the overhead walkways.

'If he's available, yeah.' said Karli, quickly following after her father and the glaceon.

* * *

In pitch black darkness, someone was breathing calmly. Each inhale sounded troubled, and every exhale was weak. Somewhere in the void, another series of noises was repeating itself. A high pitched beeping that beeped every second, which lasted for thirty seconds before suddenly, Beryl woke up. He gasped into consciousness, first seeing the dark cream coloured ceiling, before looking down upon the rest of the room that had beds all along the room. Though his sight was blurry, it was easy for him to realise he was in some recovery room. The braixen's breathing got calmer as the image of a small giraffe-like pokémon drew closer and then turned.

'Marley, Beryl's waking up!' said the girafarig, turning to leave.

'Oh, thank heavens!' replied an older nurse approaching the dazed fox boy. Marley was a chansey, a very large, round pink pokémon who were stereotypically seen as nurses as it was common for them in countries worldwide. 'How are you feeling Beryl?'

His vision still had not cleared as he laid there. The braixen felt somewhat trapped in his bed without any power to move the feet he would stand on. Instead of asking 'where am I', like he wanted, Beryl wheezed out instead, like he was also trying to call for help.

'Don't worry sweetie.' said Marley, patting the braixen on his shoulder with her tiny arms. 'You're going to be fine, you just passed out from blood loss, but we have you recovering, okay?' the braixen stared into Marley's thin black eyes, unable to say anything in his deep breathing. 'You also have a visitor by the way.'

The chansey turned to her left to look at the ward entrance and gestured for someone to come in. Rather quickly, Penny came over to Beryl's bedside, followed by a purple marowak. The machop appeared serious still.

'Beryl, you alright?' she asked, as Alison passed her to stand just to the braixen's left.

Beryl recognised them in the blur of his vision, but was still too breathless to speak.

'Beryl, hello,' said Alison, raising a bouquet of cheap flowers. 'Alison bring you flowers!'

The chansey giggled seeing the marowak's flowers.

'He seems a little delusional right now,' said Marley. 'He has only just woken up.'

'Should we come back later?' asked Penny. Marley asked Beryl a second time if he was okay, but he could only whimper, too dazed to reply even if he could understand what they were saying. The chansey then agreed that the braixen should have a little more time to heal. 'When he's healed up a little more, can you tell him that his friends made it, they're okay?'

'Yes of course.' replied Marley. 'Who were his friends?'

Penny already started to walk away.

'It- it doesn't matter. But Charlotte wants answers from him about what happened.'

'No problem.' Marley sounded so joyful, though the news had the machop on edge.

Alison placed his flowers on the desk next to Beryl's bed, unsure of where else he could put them for the braixen to see. As the marowak turned to leave however, the chansey gestured to Alison to hand her the bouquet.

'We can put them on here darling.' said Marley, patting the foot boarder.

The marowak quickly handed Marley the flowers as she reached down for some string on the end of Beryl's bed. In a flash, the chansey had the flowers tied in the braixen's sight. He could in fact see them, but his consciousness was failing him as he seemed to also be rather tired. The fox boy whumped his head back on the pillows, letting the sounds drift from his mind. He could still hear Marley chuckling and Alison whispering something to her, before Penny called him over to leave.

* * *

Outside train car B244, Ben's shelter for infant refugees, Shadow and Glim stood. Little Glim looked back at the stairs further down the platform, where McGregor and Karli waited. They both wanted to leave Terri be after what she had been through, though it was Shadow's request for them to visit Ben and Meg.

'So Terri's here too, right?' asked Shadow.

The glaceon nodded.

The houndoom knocked on the giant iron door, wondering if that was how he was supposed to enter. It was the appropriate thing to do, to request attention for any household to allow their entry. If they were humans however, they would probably have just broke in like they used to and smashed all their pots for rupees. Seconds after his second thumping on the door, it opened revealing a tired looking bayleef.

'Meg!' greeted Shadow.

For a moment, the bayleef had to take a moment to recognise the houndoom before her eyes widened hugely.

'Oh my god, it's you… um.' she stuttered.

'Shadow.' the houndoom chuckled.

'Sorry, it's been a while.'

'Meg?' asked Glim, staring up at her.

The glaceon and bayleef paused. Meg recognised the cute little glaceon and his enormous glacial eyes, but something was stopping her from believing it.

'No way… Glim?' she cried in shock.

Immediately, the giant plant-like dinosaur leaped down to embrace the glaceon. She had not seen him since the fall of Symphonia, something that Glim had remembered, but also realised the irony as he was the one responsible for its destruction when Snowdrop was killed. 'I heard you had survived, but… I didn't think I would see you here, either of you.'

'Yeah,' said Shadow. 'We got here yesterday actually.' he shook his head. 'Rough as hell day.'

Glim nodded.

'It was.'

'Is Ben around?' asked Shadow.

Meg shook her head.

'No, sorry. Despite his injury yesterday, his Crimson lieutenant ordered a report from him and to attend a search party this morning.'

'It was us he saved yesterday,' said Shadow, a little depressive. 'Which is when he was injured.'

'It was? I did wonder why he got so worked up hearing that radio transmission.'

'Yeah and I wanted to thank him, I mean… our reunion didn't last long.'

'Radio transmission?' asked Glim, peeking at the gap between the door and train.

'It's how we communicate across the capital, Glim.' replied Meg. 'The frequencies are changed on a weekly basis in case we have non CR members listening down here.'

'But what if the Republic-'

'We have jammers for them. The commander organised teams of engineers to hide jammers all around the city so any radios above the perimeter would only hear fuzzing. The upper levels and Storm Walk are where the large majority of Republic are based.'

It was a smarter operation than Commander Rancour may have realised. By making a jamming barrier between the Crimson and Republic bases, he had not only created safe, simple communication for his revolution, but subsequently handicapped the communication between the upper levels and the Storm Walk. One operation managed to cut off the Republic easily giving orders to their most dangerous offences and spare Crio of more Dragon Raids. However, it was obvious that the Republic had more ways to commune with their Storm Walk as the Dragon Raids were still happening.

'Damn.' nodded Shadow, he suddenly had a confident expression. 'You guys are more organised than Nicolai.'

'Well… it's the commander who is, really.' answered Meg. 'Rancour wasn't known for Crio's best military commander for nothing.'

'I'm amazed that he even united this revolution so quickly, in the face of all those murders and bomb raids the Republic were doing. Wasn't he retired too?' Meg nodded. 'War heroes.'

The bayleef looked back inside train car B244, which was bustling with the orphans playing and making so much noise.

'L-listen, I've got work to do in the office. If you're here to see Terri, as I understand, she was with you during your journey here.'

Glim shook his head, making his ears sink slightly.

'She's…' Glim paused, looking back at Karli and her father in the distance. 'She's been through enough. I don't want to upset her too.'

The houndoom looked a little confused, but also saddened, he must have not heard what happened to the little cranidos.

'Understood,' nodded Meg. 'It will take her a while to recover, bless her.'

'We have our initiation today too, should we be worried?'

'Well… they won't make it easy. It depends on how you want to help.'

'I think most of us want to join the infantry and defences.' said Shadow.

Bayleef inhaled, looking away.

'Then good luck…' she said. 'I don't know what they'll have you do.'

Glim and Shadow paused, glancing at each other. The houndoom had a hint of regret in his eyes, but his little glaceon kept his innocent curious look. Glim honestly had little fear of what he was getting himself into. In fact, he was more afraid to see any unown or hear voices again, after that warning he got in his sleep.

A short while later, Shadow and Glim re-joined Karli and McGregor and ascended to the station's market floor. None of them asked about Terri, but were thinking of her.

McGregor and Shadow tried to distract themselves by surveying what was on the market level. Rather like the refugee sites around Crio, it was a mess of tents and stands of offerings. In those desperate times, pokémon were working to keep everyone alive and sane, while their payment was really to keep their place and to bond with every other refugee and revolutionary.

'So…' spoke Karli. 'Did she say where we must go for the initiation?'

'We are supposed to report to Kylie when ready, Karli.' answered McGregor.

The kirlia quickly shook her head only remembering that.

'Oh- yeah.'

Still, the crew kept awkwardly quiet. Unsure of what to say or do. Both Glim and Karli were too bored to sleep, while the kirlia was also too depressed about Terri. McGregor had no objections other than to safeguard his daughter after her encounter with Marcus, and Shadow was only keen to stay by the glaceon's side.

'Idly sucking your dicks I see?' bellowed out an angry mismagius, appearing behind the four friends, all who spun round.

'What?' said Karli and Glim, surprised.

Charlotte glared at the little glaceon and houndoom next to him, letting them know who they were talking to.

'Why haven't you lot attended your initiation yet?' she asked angrily.

'Some of us are still a little hurt after our little… incident.' replied Shadow, also annoyed.

'It is true,' added McGregor. 'Angel is still recovering and Shadow is waiting for his leg to heal a little more.'

'Are you Charlotte?' asked Karli. 'Second in command?'

'When your friend is up, be quick about joining us.' continued Charlotte. 'We're still keeping an eye on you two after what happened to our aegislash!'

'You were going to kill us.' said Glim, calmly.

Suddenly, the group became silent, as the floating ghost glared still at the little glaceon. Karli, who placed a foot in front of her friend, glared back at Charlotte.

'Whatever misunderstanding happened,' interjected McGregor. 'We must move on, we're allies now.'

'Not until you've passed your initiation.' hissed Charlotte. 'Now, report to Kylie when you're quite finished doing nothing.'

When she finished, Charlotte descended through the floor.

'She is just doing her duty.' said McGregor, concerned for his daughter's temper.

'Yes I know!' replied Karli, who then turned to Shadow and Glim and whispered. 'I thought you said you didn't kill that aegis-whatever.'

Glim whispered back, 'We didn't… but if we didn't take the blame, Beryl would've been killed if he survived.'

'Did he survive?' asked McGregor.

The little glaceon shook his head.

'I don't know.'

* * *

An hour later, Angel stood waiting in a dark room with his arms crossed. The room from what the weavile could see, appeared to be quite a large scanning room. In the darkness were mostly dark and bug type pokémon, they had their heads down on small screens that were all bright blue and each surveying something of their own. All the observing pokémon had headphones on and were scribbling notes and times on the scrap paper they had. It was a very busy sight.

The silence broke when a door far behind Angel opened. From it emerged a tall leavanny, followed by a crew silhouetted by the dark corridor they came from. Angel however, knew it was Kylie leading his friends to their induction to the initiation.

'Where've you been?' demanded Angel. 'Let's go!'

'Hey,' replied Karli. 'You're the one who wanted more snuggy buggy wuggies, you fucking pussy.'

Immediately Shadow exhaled the rest of his air and resisted desperately to laugh.

'Karli!' murmured McGregor. 'Neither myself or your mother would talk like that.'

The weavile seemed unaffected regardless as Glim, Karli, McGregor, Shadow and Kylie approached. The four friends stopped alongside Angel, surveying the dark room, while the slender bug pokémon passed the weavile and turned to face the latest recruits.

'Okay…' said Kylie. 'We're just… waiting for Maladan-'

Just as suddenly, the mentioned blastoise emerged from a door hidden in the darkness and was stomping by his much smaller technicians to approach the centre where Kylie stood.

'Present, Kylie.' Maladan called. 'I won't be supervising alone neither.'

The leavanny looked back to see the dark blue figure still approaching her.

'Sir?' Kylie asked.

'Don't worry, Kylie.' said Gem, passing the giant turtle, having followed him through the door. 'I'm here to catch you like I said, okay?'

The leavanny seemed more at ease, but the same could not be said for Karli. Her fists tightened, thinking that the toxicroak had joined the supervision of their initiation to torment her or boss her around. Thankfully, Gem never raised a look of intimidation and appeared to have no disregard over any particular member. If anything she was there for Kylie, as it was her first time initiating new recruits.

While the toxicroak stood with her sticky arms folded, Maladan stood into the dim navy light where Angel and his friends were still. Kylie appeared concerned, looking at the blastoise who quickly nodded at their recruits.

'So um.' called Kylie. 'We have five today-'

'Kylie,' interrupted Gem. 'Introduce yourself to the recording.'

The leavanny shook her head.

'Oh sorry! Um, this is Kylie, leavanny, accompanied by Maladan, blastoise and Gem, toxicroak. Today we have five recruits ready for their first task. All five of you are in for infantry and defence, correct?'

'Yes mam.' said Angel boldly.

McGregor only said yes, while Glim, Shadow and Karli merely nodded.

'N-names please?'

She started with Angel to her far left.

'Angel, weavile. Male, twenty-two years.'

The leavanny quickly took notes, before looking to Shadow just next to the weavile.

'Shadow,' he said. 'Houndoom, male, I'm nineteen.'

'Glim… glaceon. Male… and I don't know my age.'

Gem looked puzzled and glanced at the blastoise nearby. Kylie also looked back at Maladan.

'You think he is older than twelve?' asked Gem.

'He was mature enough to access nightclubs.' said Shadow. 'I mean, that's where we first met.'

Glim nodded, smiling at the houndoom. Maladan meanwhile gestured to Kylie to continue as she noted the glaceon's age as NA, she then looked over to Karli.

'Karli,' said the kirlia proudly. 'Kirlia, female, eighteen!'

'You're eighteen?' asked Gem, a little shocked.

'Yeah.'

'She is,' confirmed McGregor. 'She is my daughter.'

The toxicroak was pondering why Karli had not evolved as a lot of female kirlia become strong enough to evolve by fourteen. Gem had assumed that Karli was much younger than she was.

'A-and you?' asked Kylie, finally turning to the dusknoir.

'McGregor, paladin dusknoir. Male, forty-six.'

When the leavanny finished her notes, she looked at Gem, forgotten what she was supposed to do next.

'Looks good.' said the toxicroak. 'Now tell them what they will be doing for now.'

'Yes!' said Kylie, glancing back at the friends before her. 'For the infantries, you will all be given scarves. Wear them however you want, and best worn tightly so there's little to catch on them. But as for your first mission, anybody wondering why you're all in here? This is one of our radio communication rooms under Haine's Central Station. Throughout the city, we recieve distress calls, emergency assignments and calls for assistance quite regularly. You will wait here before… um one of our helpers, no, listeners picks up some urgent transmission that will suit your experience.'

Gem face-palmed while Glim and his friends nodded.

'As most of you are already pretty experienced,' interjected Gem. 'We may assign you to an emergency assignment that may be more difficult for nearby Crimson to tackle alone, or if something complicated happens. Sometimes, the Republic will try to use our radio messages to trick us, though they never realise that we change the frequencies often so they don't keep doing it.'

At that moment, Charlotte the mismagius flew in, drifting backward as she eyed the recruits. Her silent passing over the team made the houndoom jump when spotting Charlotte.

'This is under control, vice commander.' said Maladan.

The mismagius, kept her gaze on Glim and Shadow in particular, not that she trusted the others. She then flew over to a ledian on the far right of the room, where she informed the humanoid insect in whispers.

'When something comes up.' spoke Gem boldly, breaking the pause. 'It will be your mission to assist and comeback alive. Is that clear?'

'Yes mam.' responded Angel and McGregor.

It should have been Kylie saying that last line, however her supervisors had no problem finishing her briefing, maybe she would remember it next time.

'You're… free to chat to each other until your assignment is decided.' said Kylie, while Maladan went to speak with Charlotte, leaving Kylie's supervising to the toxicroak.

Little Glim in the middle was the first to look to his friends.

'So… do we just wait?' he asked.

'Enjoy it while you can.' replied Gem. 'Your mission will come shortly.' she and Kylie then pointed at the working pokémon all around them. 'See all the controllers here? They're always listening and sending messages to our home broadcasters, who relay things like news or Republic activity.'

True to her word, it was only minutes before a nuzleaf and a scyther were whispering loud enough to be heard, having trouble deciding what action to take over a call they had just received. The scyther stood and called Kylie and Gem over, who hurried over while Glim and Karli watched closely. It was almost impossible to hear what the stressed nuzleaf and scyther were saying as they were speaking so quickly. The toxicroak however, responded a little more confidently, saying 'perfect'. She and the leavanny rush back with a scrap of paper, completely covered in scribbles, notes and diagrams.

'Okay listen up!' called Gem, silencing Angel and Shadow. But before she read the notes, she glanced back at Kylie. 'No wait, you read it.'

Nervously, the leavanny took the paper.

'Oh, okay.' uttered Kylie. The notes were barely readable, but she could make out most of the key words. 'So something strange is happening. The caller claims to be a rebelling Republic "crony".' just hearing those last words, Glim's ears sprung up. 'It did not identify what specie it was, but according to the interceptors, it was definitely a machine. Its last known location was in the Tundra sector, south from here and has just survived a building crash down on it. It said that it has been targeted by powerful cadres of the Republic, as it is willing to leak vital information to any Crimson officer.'

The little glaceon paused with his pupils small. He knew who it was, but also knew who might be after it. Karli had no idea who the caller was, despite having been saved by it and heard plenty about it. Angel and Shadow meanwhile shared a similar look of suspicion, the weavile in fact glanced at Glim who was also looking back at him.

'This will be your initiation,' said Gem. 'You see, we can't trust anonymous callers as any of them could be Republics setting up traps, even with vital-'

'It's Sergeant!' cried Glim, everyone then glanced at him. 'It's a friend of ours, a magnezone.'

'Oh damn, of course!' muttered Shadow.

'You know this caller?' asked Gem.

Nearby Charlotte and Maladan looked back at the commotion.

'Yes,' replied Glim desperately. 'It saved me, Angel and Karli once.'

'And me.' added Shadow.

'And it really did rebel to the Republic after what happened on a vessel.' said Angel.

Suddenly, Karli's eyes shortened as she realised who they were talking about.

'Oh my god.' she said. 'That magnezone?'

'Where was its last known location?' demanded Glim.

'It was broadcasted from the Tundra sector.' answered Gem. 'Is this really an ex-Republic sergeant?'

'Sarg- that- that's its name.'

'We dunno what rank it was.' interjected Angel. 'But we know it was a member of high authority and was dead serious to stopping them.

The toxicroak and leavanny paused, actually appearing a little shocked. Gem look back to the mismagius, who she assumed to be listening and was right.

'Should we send Bladeface with them?' she asked.

'No.' answered Charlotte coldly, just watching Glim getting more impatient. 'If you're confident about this character being on your side, you go out and prove it, wearing your scarves. Fight your allies to prove that you're one of us.'

The little glaceon was beginning to feel the heat in his paws and forehead. His friend was buried alive and getting hunted, while he and Shadow are taking mistrust from a supposed ally who already misjudged and almost killed them.

Looking like her glaceon friend was about to explode, Karli decided to set them off.

'How do we get to the Tundra Sector?' Karli demanded.

'Take the direct south tunnel and you're there,' answered Gem. 'It's a very narrow sector but still a long one. Your "friend" is under rubble of a fallen building, somewhere on Post Avenue, Go!'

Immediately, Glim turned and bolted without his boyfriend, who was only following closely behind. Angel was the first to the door, yanking it opening for his friends to storm out.

It did not take long for Glim, Angel and Shadow to run down the very long and straight southern tunnel from Haine Central Station, before reaching the underground links of the Tundra Sector. Karli and McGregor meanwhile took a much easy route for them, by simply shadow sneaking through the ground that was above them, which led them to the same tunnel, only much further ahead. It took energy to use Shadow Sneak, which was also a vital means of attack and escape for pokémon like them, so they refrained from using it for taking shortcuts if they could.

The dusknoir was easily the slowest of the team, so Karli stayed by his side and looked back frequently until the rest of the team caught up. Despite Shadow and Glim ran on four legs, Angel was easily the fastest of the team on just two legs. The weavile was the first to leave the train tunnel, without thinking to check for any signs of a possible ambush. Looking at the state of the sector however, Tundra was already a mess of its own.

The Tundra Sector was not a small as the Egg Sector, but was easily the most awkwardly shaped as the result of a massive earthquake that sunk the sector so deeply that the neighbouring sectors of Scorpion and Royal were virtually leaning over it. As the earthquake was so long ago, the pokémon had built over the destroyed Tundra Sector, even though it was nearly on level with the underground. Even the sector borders were vastly crooked after the catastrophe. The sector was also home to the majority of poor in Haine, since the sunken land was ignored for years after the event, but also because it was not as profitable. A lot of the buildings that stood before Angel were cheaply nailed together like slums. It was easy to see how they would fall over.

When Glim, followed by Shadow, emerged from the tunnel, he looked surprised, he had thought that Haine had its own canyon.

'I-is this Tundra?' he asked.

'What, have you never been to Haine?' asked Angel.

Glim shook his head.

'This place was a shithole even before the revolution.' said Shadow.

Karli and McGregor caught up.

'Where're we going again?' asked Karli.

'Post Avenue.' said McGregor and Angel.

The little glaceon was glancing around, not seeing any street signs, and there were fallen buildings wherever he looked. Eager to find Sergeant, Glim darted forward and leaped from the tracks onto the mossy platform. Angel and Shadow followed the little glaceon, but Glim then stopped and looked up once there was no shelter covering him from seeing the sky. It was the first time he had seen the upper level, the enormous circular plate where the Republic resided and the south side was directly above them. From below, it looked like an old, but complex spaceship for a science fiction novel. The plate was held up by eight tremendously thick pillars, all around it, while the middle is held up with its own hive of buildings, mostly taking up space in the Royal Sector. The Singlehorn Sector housed the north-west pillar, the Polkadot Sector housed the west pillar, the Scorpion Sector housed the south-west pillar and even the Tundra Sector had one, being the southern pillar. However, those sectors were nothing in size compared to the Continent and its neighbouring sector of Royal, both of which safeguarded two pillars.

As it was ten in the morning, Haine was getting its light, except the sky was completely overcast by dark clouds. It looked like a cold storm was coming.

Glim resumed his sprint to search for any street signs, he left the old train station with Karli and McGregor closely behind, into what appeared to be an abandoned residential block. It was eerily quiet, all the team could hear were the escalating explosions and yelling from neighbouring sectors. Even though the sounds were so distant, to the little glaceon, it always felt like it was just the next street over.

'Hey!' called Shadow, further ahead. 'We know where Gate Village is.'

The houndoom pointed at a wall far ahead of them that had 'Gate Village' with a massive arrow spray painted on it, pointing north.

'We're not looking for that,' said Karli. 'We're looking for Post Avenue.'

'Some directions would be nice.' muttered Angel, glancing left to right at a lonesome junction. 'Wait, you guys get back!'

All of a sudden, the weavile dive rolled off the road and stood up against an abandoned block of flats, while Shadow sprinted to follow him. Glim and Karli were simultaneously grabbed by McGregor, who sunk down into the concrete and were taken closer to the train platform. The dusknoir brought Glim and Karli up under a parked lorry, so they could get a better view and remain unseen.

'Where did you go!' screamed a mechanical voice, echoing across the sector.

The glaceon and kirlia had to crawl closer to the end of the lorry's cover to see what just spoke. Glim had a feeling he knew who it was and his fear was confirmed as he spotted a lone metagross, floating over the badly built buildings in the distance. It was Vice Vora.

'Oh you've got to be kidding me.' whispered Glim, angrily.

'You know him?' asked Karli.

'Yeah. This thing is crazy tough.'

Vice Vora disappeared from sight, clearly in search for Sergeant also. Glim and Karli crawled out and leaped over the car park wall. On the street below, Angel and Shadow much further away from the kirlia, glaceon and dusknoir were keen to follow where the metagross had come from.

'Glim!' Angel whispered loudly, waving for him, Karli and McGregor to follow.

The weavile did not even wait, once he got their attention, he took off, running under the old age, towering red bridge. His guess is that Vice Vora had come from Post Avenue and was likely why Sergeant was buried under rubble. Glim however had the same idea and followed suit, making Shadow, Karli and her father follow after them.

Passing under the unusually high bridge, Glim and his friends lost sight of Angel. Ahead of them were two main roads and alleyways between almost every building.

'Oh crap, Angel!' called Glim.

'What?' said Shadow. 'He was only ahead like ten seconds, where the hell did he go?'

'He will find your friend.' said McGregor, with a finger on his head. 'But we better make sure to find Post Avenue when he needs us.'

'Directions, dad?' asked Karli.

'Hold on.' McGregor paused, squinting his one eye as he looked into the future of Angel and retraced his steps to make a shortest journey over to Sergeant's destination. 'Oh boy, we have a way to go.'

'How far?' asked Glim.

'It is just less than a mile,' the dusknoir replied, pointing at the direction that continued from the road they stood on. 'Take a left, down all of Scurbs Street, turn right and we will run into the fray.'

'Right!' called Shadow, taking off with his glaceon running alongside him.

'Go, go!' called Karli. 'We'll catch up!'

Neither Glim nor Shadow stopped when they turned left onto the narrow street, which looked surprisingly long.

Much further ahead and running blindly, Angel was keeping an eye out for street signs and fallen buildings. He was expecting something bigger, as the fight appeared to be between a magnezone and metagross, both very tough and strong pokémon, in a location of what was pretty much made up of giant shanties. If Sergeant was trapped under a 'building', it would have to have been a big one. As if the weavile was given the directions beforehand, he was already on the long west path that led toward Post Avenue, when he was really intrigued by the look of a junkyard, made up of supports and bricks at the end of it. Vice Vora must have believed that Sergeant had escaped. Angel kept running, every now and then he would look up and behind him, in case that metagross was above, he already knew how dangerous Vice Vora was. The weavile had his arm broken because of that very metagross, when he was a sneasel.

Angel passed a faded sign on the other side of the road, despite the rust and dust, it clearly said Post Avenue. Sergeant had to be in the mountain of junk, rubble and metal ahead of him.

Something odd was happening, despite how serious and tense he was, Angel was smiling and did not know why. He felt nostalgic somehow, like he had ran endlessly in dire situations before. Perhaps it was what was left of him, trying to be remembered.

What was left of Post Avenue was not in great condition as it had once been a high street it seemed and had endured a Dragon Raid, judging by all the craters all along the road for hundreds of yards. Whatever Sergeant had crashed into was presumably a giant block of flats, however it appeared the magnezone was not alone. On the floor, crawling away from the rubble on broken flippers was Tyson the delibird. His face showed he was in great pain and desperate to not scream.

'Hello?' Tyson called out, as soon as he spotted the approaching weavile.

'Are you alright?' asked Angel in a rush.

The incapacitated delibird spotted the CR scarf covering a part of Angel's left shoulder.

'A-are you a member of the Crimson?'

'Yeah, and I'm here to help, have you seen a magnezone?'

'Yes.' replied the delibird, weakly pointing at the rubble he crawled from. 'He's in there somewhere. Where's that monster?'

Immediately, Angel scrambled onto the sea of grey and multi-coloured junk.

'Sergeant!' he called, climbing the rocks and wood with his ear close to it. 'Are you there? It's Angel! Sergeant!'

The first thing the weavile could hear is an echoing grunt, coming from further up the pile and to his left. Angel quickly climbed up more, following the sound he was hearing.

'Hello?' uttered Sergeant.

Practically above it, the weavile began clawing through the rubble.

'Sarge, it's Angel, we've come to rescue you!'

'Angel? Is that really you? What happened to Vice Vora?'

'It's still around mate, but Glim and his friends are here to help.'

'Oh really? Hold on then.'

'What?'

As Angel paused, the junk below him began to crumble as a badly scratched yellow antenna poked out from the mass of grey. The weavile took a step back to let Sergeant levitate itself out of the rest of the junk. It was obvious that Sergeant had taken a lot of damage to remain afloat constantly, the magnezone was dented, burned and scratched all over. As it ascended on eye level with Angel, its floating appeared wonky, tilted to its right slightly.

'I really needed for the CR to send help, so I stayed hiding. Where's Tyson?' before Angel even pointed down at the delibird, Sergeant had spotted him and flew down to him. The weavile quickly followed, taking a big leap and then landed next to them. 'Tyson, are you okay?'

The delibird shook his head with tears in his eyes.

'I can't feel my flippers.'

'Then hold on to me,' said Sergeant, sinking it's left side, so Tyson could grab hold of the giant screw head behind its left eye. 'Angel, show us the way to base, before Vice finds us.'

Already, Angel looked back where he came from and immediately saw something in the sky heading toward them at a rapid speed.

'Too late!' shouted Angel, swiftly climbing onto Sergeant's right side, while Tyson held on for dear life.

'Hold on tight!'

The magnezone took to the air, while Angel frantically threw Ice Shards at the maniacal metagross speedily floating to them, looking like a giant metal X. The impacting ice chunks were nudging Vice Vora, but not enough to change its collision course, but then Sergeant quickly shot it with the strongest bolt of lightning he could muster. Suddenly the metagross hissed, twitching slightly, while its momentum carried it to fly lower, but in its twitching, Vice Vora flung one of its hind legs up, hitting Sergeant from below. The abrupt contact flung Tyson off the rising magnezone and start falling the great height they had climbed.

'Tyson!' called Sergeant, quickly regaining balance and then diving after the delibird.

Vice Vora lost control of its levitation and was forced to land on all fours on the rubble Sergeant had hidden in. It saw the magnezone swoop up, catching the delibird just before he hit the concrete. With that much momentum, Sergeant had to continue down the junction it was closest to, disappearing from Vice Vora's sight. It roared, folding up all four of its legs once more and flew in pursuit.

Sergeant used its gained momentum to its advantage to lose the mad metagross as it flew down a street at high speed. Angel on board was desperately trying to keep Tyson held onto the magnezone. The delibird finally got a hold of the same screw he had lost grip of seconds ago. The weavile meanwhile looked back, witnessing Vice Vora swiftly floating round the corner and began catching up to them at a creepily slow rate. Again, Angel using one claw, tried hurling more shards of ice at the pursuing metagross, and despite them all hitting, they just were not fazing Vice Vora at all. It continued getting closer and closer, when suddenly sergeant took a very sharp left turn, so sharp, that Tyson and Angel flung about, almost losing grip, while the metagross was going too fast to stop and crashed into a thick stone wall.

'Whoa!' screamed Angel, just watching Vice Vora bounce off the wall and tumble like a giant falling spider. 'Nice move there sarge!'

Floating as fast as it could, Sergeant continued flying into a tunnel for vehicles that was just in its path. It was not long before the metagross just behind them had stabilised and continued its chase.

In the tunnel, the magnezone had to light up the road ahead with its built in light at the centre of its body, so it would not crash into any wreckage or abandoned vehicles. Close behind them, Vice Vora roared.

Angel could only see the reoccurring light reflections on the metagross' X over its face as well as its blood red eyes. Before the weavile could throw any more Ice Shards, the magnezone he rode on, took another sharp left turn, down a tunnel junction. That time Vice Vora was smart enough to slow its momentum before turning round at the crossover, enabling it to not crash. Angel was keen to throw more shards of ice, anything to slow the metagross.

'Shit!' shouted Sergeant, light shining on what appeared to be metal tunnel door, which had closed down.

Taking one look at the inevitable collision course, Angel kicked forward, flinging himself ahead of the magnezone and with enough momentum to run quicker on the road.

'No keep going!' shouted Angel, sprinting ahead, building up as much momentum as he could.

With all his speed and power built up, Angel pulled his arm back, coating it in ice and threw the hardest Ice Punch he could, smashing an enormous hole in the tunnel barrier. Metal fragments flew everywhere as the weavile remained screaming after delivering that attack. The rest of the barrier was pushed into the shape of a sinkhole, while the rest of the metal around the hole became bent outward.

Sergeant flew through the hole which was just big enough for it, while Vice Vora had to perform a manoeuvre where it tilted forward, almost hiding its face, unfolding its legs and pointed them below it as much as it could, forming the thinnest shape as it could. The metagross had squeezed itself thin enough to also grind through the hole created by Angel and then reformed into its floating stance.

Suddenly, Angel took his speed and Vice Vora's manoeuvring to his advantage as he flew back at the flying metagross to strike down with a Night Slash, right on its X. Immediately, Vice Vora was belted downward from the attack, causing it to tumble on the road, while its built up momentum caused the weavile to bounce. Angel had less of a crash to endure, but his collision with the iron leg pokémon had hurt him on his torso and right leg. As soon as he found his footing on the road again, Angel gave chase for the magnezone who had gained quite a lead down the tunnel. Sergeant turned left where clouded daylight was coming from.

Outside the tunnel, emerging onto a street neighbouring the path the led into Post Avenue, Sergeant flew out, with Angel seconds behind on the ground.

'Sergeant!' cried Glim, waving his front paws frantically.

Shadow just next to the glaceon also called up for the magnezone. Sergeant heard the two boys shouting, as it dove down toward them. It looked pretty exhausted, having difficulty in staying airborne and sort of gently crashed in front of Glim and Shadow.

'Are you guys alright?' cried Karli, running out from Scurbs Street, her father meanwhile was likely far behind her.

'Glim, Shadow…' said Sergeant, barely able to float any longer.

'Don't worry Sergeant,' said Glim, placing his paws over the magnezone. 'We'll take you-'

'Uh guys!' called Angel, running to unite with his friends. 'You better get ready for a fucking party!'

At that moment, something big and sapphire blue zoomed out from the tunnel Angel, Sergeant and Tyson had just left. Glim and Shadow ran in front of the magnezone and delibird, staring up at the metagross who took to the air.

Vice Vora noticed the crew forming on the road far below it, which made it pause where it was. It glared down at Glim and Shadow, who were joined by Angel who took his stance alongside the crew.

'Blood will be spilled if you dare stand against me this time.' said Vice Vora, through its vocal modifier making it louder. The little glaceon knew it was really talking to him, though Shadow and Angel had their share of the message too. They all remained, shielding the magnezone with brave faces. 'So, be it.'

The metagross released from its levitation and began to fall directly toward the crew using its sheer weight and gravity to build up a devastating Meteor Mash. As soon as Angel saw the movement, he grabbed Sergeant and Tyson and swung them out of the way as quickly as he could. Glim, Shadow and Karli meanwhile dived forward.

Vice Vora collided into the ground, combining its attack with the Earthquake technique, sending Angel, Glim and Shadow into the air. As they were far from the metagross, the crew were not hurt much, Karli was merely pushed away. Easily rolling to her feet, she used Psychic to catch her glaceon friend and land him on the nearby house behind Vice Vora. Shadow and Angel however were left to land harshly, except their landing had nothing on the recoil of the metagross' impact, as its leg got stuck.

With the advantage, Glim leaped to the edge of the building rooftop and fired a ball of shadows, knowing that a metagross were vulnerable to ghosts messing with its psychic systems. The Shadow Ball exploded on top of Vice Vora, making it grunt loudly. The houndoom nearby attempted to use Flamethrower, while the metagross was stuck, but it pulled its leg out and leaped from the crater just in time.

The huge iron leg pokémon flew over Karli, attempting to land on her. The little kirlia was not tempted to try using Reflect to hold that beast, instead she leaped up turning completely black and zoomed through the metagross. Vice Vora landed, only flinching from Karli's weak attack. But as soon as the giant machine landed, it rose and swung down its leg, hitting the ground, intercepting Shadow before he used Flamethrower again. An earthquake formed at an instant, sending a chunk of ground up at the houndoom's face, sending him flying back with a face full of blood. The Earthquake was strong enough to send the nearby buildings to fall down, which made Glim turn tail and leap down to the ground, worried for Shadow who at that moment was still flying back.

Seeing the vulnerable little glaceon chase after his boyfriend, Vice Vora prepared to strike from that range with a Bullet Punch, but right as it was about to shoot off toward Glim, the metagross was met by another Shadow Sneak from Karli. The giant machine only ended up tripping forward, as Karli manifested on top of its head. She then leaped off with a backflip, while Vice Vora furiously waved its iron legs over its head, missing the kirlia with every attack.

Karli landed, metres away and knowing the metagross would be pissed, she summoned a Reflect as soon as she could. Immediately as the wall of light appeared, Karli was met by a metal force punching at the shield so hard it sent her flying back, tumbling metres away.

With the kirlia out of the way, the metagross felt safe to leap up once more to dive crash into its next victim. In the air however, Vice Vora had one of its legs grabbed by a single hand. By the time it had realised what was happening, it was thrown back down to the ground by McGregor. The impact sent the metagross to roll further down the street, where Glim and Shadow were.

'Do not, hurt my daughter!' yelled the dusknoir.

McGregor lunged down using Shadow Sneak, just when Vice Vora got onto its feet who attempted to retaliate with a Bullet Punch, but the giant ghost managed to block the whole iron leg, turn his own fist on fire and swing down. The metagross however had enough time to leap back, narrowly dodging McGregor's Fire Punch.

Knowing that it was surrounded again, Vice Vora hammered the ground, forcing Glim and Shadow to leap back. McGregor meanwhile only leaned back, having enough room for the ground to miss him. The giant ghost then turned completely black, as he zoomed through the ground, attempting to strike the metagross just on the other side, but in a turn of events, Vice Vora managed to block McGregor's Shadow Sneak, catching his fist with its claw. The huge mechanical pokémon then raised its front right leg, preparing for a fatal Meteor Mash, when the same leg was held up and restrained from moving by a weavile who slid into the crater at the right time.

'Payback bitch!' shouted Angel, stabbing his claw into the eye of the metagross, which made it scream demonically.

Suddenly, Vice Vora took off into the air via levitation, without folding its legs and with Angel's claw stuck in its eye socket.

'Angel!' called McGregor.

The dusknoir floated up to help remove the weavile, but then the metagross began spinning at an incredible speed. Even when McGregor reached out to grab Angel, he was hit back by what became a giant metal top. Down below, Glim and Shadow were too afraid to help, as either of their attacks could end up hitting Angel.

Leaving them be, Angel and Vice Vora continued to spin wildly higher and further away, until the weavile was finally free from the screaming metagross. But having been spun round so much, Angel was catapulted across the air toward Tundra Central Park, and Vice Vora chased after him in a frenzy.

With so much momentum, Angel was skimming on the road toward the desolate grassland and was eventually stopped by crashing through the wooden fence around the completely flat park. The weavile came to a complete stop on his back, looking upward, a little dizzy from what just happened. But then he saw the mad metagross zooming toward him.

'Oh shit!' he yelled, swiftly rolling out of the way as Vice Vora sunk its fist into the ground again.

Angel rolled back onto his feet, the ground not so delicate to Vice Vora's earthquakes anymore.

The metagross yanked its claw out in rage and zoomed toward the weavile with the same claw heading for his head. Angel however, managed to sidestep away from the Bullet Punch and deliver his own Sucker Punch, using dark energy to force Vice Vora away. It hissed in fury, glaring at the weavile, waiting for him to make a move, but Angel knew what it was doing.

Suddenly from the sage green ground, McGregor and Karli in shadow form shot up through Vice Vora, making it roar again. While it was distracted, Angel lunged forward going for the kill, but the metagross was not distracted enough, who then intercepted the frail weavile with a Bullet Punch to his stomach, sending Angel flying across the park, until he hit the broken fence on the other side.

Rage had coloured the metagross red in that position. As soon as McGregor landed, Vice Vora swung back with the quickest Meteor Mash it will ever perform, blowing the giant ghost paladin back almost a hundred yards away, while Karli sunk into the ground on landing.

The mad metagross looked ahead at Angel on the other side, who was clutching his torso. Vice Vora hissed and leaped closer to the weavile, who bravely stood, keeping his own face of rage. Face to face, the metagross rose its leg, about to crush Angel who sidestepped and sucker punched it again, but then Vice Vora jumped tackled into the weavile, pinning him against the poorly made fence.

Again, the undying metagross attempted to use Meteor Mash with Angel backed up to a wall, the weavile being so thin and slender however, Angel managed to stand up and block the Meteor Mash, redirecting its momentum onto the fence just next to his head. It looked like stalemate at that moment, with the two of them stuck in place, only glaring hell at each other, but Angel had enough room to raise his left claw, force it to glow black and cut down, slicing off Vice Vora's front right leg. It remained stuck in the fence, while the metagross only twitched, screaming in pain at Angel. The weavile then lifted his own two legs, knocking the machine's face upward with his knees and then double kicking it away from him.

Just when he felt ready to finish it, Angel collapsed on the spot, completely powerless and taken by pain to move any further. The psychopathic metagross before him however did not fare any better, having lost a leg, an eye and its mind. But while the weavile was incapacitated, Vice Vora was not and just on three legs, started to crawl like a zombie.

Suddenly the horrific sight of the insane approaching metagross was replaced by three very bright explosions. Vice Vora flipped over on the spot, losing another one of its legs, covered in dirt and became oddly silent. Finally, the scene went quiet as the body of the killer machine laid on its back, while the smoke from the explosion cleared up.

The explosions had originated from Glim's Shadow Ball, at the same time when Shadow was using Flamethrower and Sergeant, who had recovered enough to fire a Flash Cannon.

'Angel!' cried Glim.

The little glaceon ran over to the weavile, who was sat with his back against the fence, while Vice Vora's leg was still in it. The glaceon appeared to be looking at Angel's torso, before looking him in the eyes. At first Angel smiled and nodded, but the look in Glim's eyes had a desperate, fearful and sad look.

'Oh my god, Angel!' said Shadow, standing nearby his glaceon. 'Are you alright?'

The houndoom too, had a look of care, but hopelessness at the same time. Angel then looked down and saw it, just how much damage Vice Vora had done to him. His stomach, up to his ribcage was completely ripped open and gushing in blood, his legs were already coloured red from it. Angel even had to look at his claws, to confirm the truth to himself.

Angel weakly shook his head.

'I'll survive.' he said passionately. 'I won't die.'

The weavile tried to pick himself up even, but the strength in his arms depleted at an instant, leaving him to fall back down and pant.

'You did it!' cried Karli, coming back into the park, only seeing the body of Vice Vora first. 'Wait, where's-' Shadow stepped away and looked back at the kirlia, revealing what was happening. 'Angel!' shouted Karli, very quickly approaching the weavile. Despite the gory scenario, Karli knelt beside Angel and held his claw tightly. 'Hold on, Angel. You'll make it. Dad- Dad! We'll Shadow Sneak you back-'

'Karli, it won't matter.' muttered Shadow, miserably.

'What?'

'Just look at him Karli. Even if you and McGregor get him back, he'll bleed to death, inside or out.'

The little kirlia shook her head.

'I-I don't care. Dad, where are you!'

Seeing Karli refusing to give up was making Glim begin to tear up. It also made Angel smile, as the reality began to sink in.

'Thanks for believing in me Karli.' said Angel, using what was left of his energy.

Karli let Angel's claw rest on his lap, while she shook her head slowly.

'No… you believed in us.' she said, her voice beginning to break. 'Without you, so many of us wouldn't have got here. You stood up for us, came to save us when we needed help.'

Karli paused, on the verge of crying, while Glim was also fighting his trembling lips and tears.

Angel tightened his hold on Karli's little hands.

'Hey Glim.' Angel whispered happily.

'Yes?' Glim uttered, almost breaking down.

'Next time… you're getting me into a nightclub.'

The weavile lightly chuckled, as if breathing out the rest of his air. Glim did not know how he should react to the joke, neither did Shadow or Karli. Sergeant and Tyson could only watch as they were just as powerless. Coincidentally, that was all Angel's closest friends could do at that moment, remain by his side, as his claw weakened and finally fall from Karli's hands.


	19. Crimson Ruination

Chapter 19:  
'Crimson ruination' **(** **phase 1 finale)**

* * *

It was a while before Glim had returned to the underground of Haine's Central Station, forgetting how big the capital of Crio was. He still felt numb after losing a friend of his and just could not accept it. The little glaceon was not alone in his numbness however, Karli seemed mad as usual, but only mad at herself, she was not always the nicest to the friend they lost. Glim's boyfriend Shadow, was also experiencing a mild sense of sorrow, but was more relieved to have his little glaceon alive to comfort. Their tails wrapped where they sat.

Karli, Glim and Shadow were at some refugee restaurant, one that was quieter than the bigger ones upstairs. Like every refuge worker, the quiet restaurant was there out of charity, helping the refugees and revolutionaries more. It was in a train car near the southern exit to the Tundra Sector, where the crew had finished their first mission.

Glim and his friends, or at least the crew he set off with had rightfully become members of the Crimson Revolution and kept their short scarves on. The oddball in their circumstance was Tyson, the delibird who was rescued along with Sergeant, the magnezone who they set out for in the first place.

Karli's father, McGregor had left the table to place their orders, while Tyson was sitting very unnerved. He knew none of the pokémon at the table with him and Sergeant was not with them. For him it was like sitting at a school table in a cafeteria with older students he did not know, and after being chased out of his house by parents. That was as close as he could relate the attack of Vice Vora.

'You okay?' asked Shadow, with his head over Glim's, though he was talking to Tyson.

The delibird stuttered, 'Uh, yeah, yeah.'

He honestly did not know what to say, Tyson was still shaken after his rescue from the metagross from Hell. Karli with an emotionless expression looked at the delibird, sitting next to her. She wanted to ask Tyson how he knew Sergeant, but felt wrong to.

'What about you two?' Shadow asked, looking at Glim first and Karli second.

Glim stayed silent, closing his big beautiful eyes.

Karli replied calmly, 'Angel's dead, Shadow.'

The houndoom nodded.

'I-I know… just wanted to know if either of you wanted to talk.'

The blue-haired kirlia looked away, not angry, just disappointed about losing their weavile friend. Glim was the same, they could not help but see images flashing in their heads of when their confident, hasty weavile friend either saved them or did something outrageous. The little glaceon began tearing up when he remembered when Angel was just a sneasel, outsmarting Alexander the electivire and getting Glim into the nightclub. It made his lips tremble. It was very hard to believe it was only hours ago that their weavile was killed by Vice Vora.

Tyson had a sympathetic look on his face, for he too witnessed the death of the weavile who fought relentlessly to save him and Sergeant.

McGregor came back with a tray with two teas, a glass of boiling water and a large chesto juice. The large dusknoir surprisingly did not order anything for himself, he had forgotten to. It seemed creepily quiet when the four pokémon silently took their drinks without saying anything at all. Not that McGregor expected anyone to talk, though he known Angel only for a little while, he could tell he was close to his daughter and Glim.

The glaceon as usual blew his tea until it froze before taking a sip. Karli meanwhile looked blankly down into her tea, pondering random thoughts, like how do people see their reflections in drinks? She sure could not see herself. Shadow awkwardly had to drink his piping kettle water with his whole maw holding the glass and looking upward, though he had been doing that like most hound pokémon for years, it was super embarrassing when their friends would drink could use their hands, claws or paws. The delibird meanwhile was too anxious to drink, frequently darting his eyes over the crew. He had to break the silence.

'So um… you said that Ben and Meg made it here?' he asked, not really directed at anyone in particular.

Shadow and Karli nodded, but in doing so while he was drinking water the houndoom quickly slammed the glass down and choked into a violent coughing fit.

'They're…' answered Karli, distracted by Shadow choking to death. 'They're like, several rows down from this one.' Glim began patting the houndoom's back sternly. 'You would have to go upstairs to get to the platform though.'

'Wrong pipe!' coughed Shadow, before taking a huge wheezing gasp.

'If it's okay with you,' said Tyson. 'Could you guys take me over?'

'Yeah of course,' replied Karli. 'We're done for today, I think.'

'Charlotte never confirmed that though.' interjected McGregor.

'No, but she seemed excited about Sergeant's information. I mean… after, they found his tracker to be destroyed.'

'So what does that mean?' asked Shadow. 'Are we finished for today?'

'The last thing she told us- well Gem at least, was for us to standby.'

'And what did she say?'

'She said that their interview with Sergeant would take a while, so we could go. But she wanted us to stay on this platform until we were dismissed.'

'Oh right.' said Shadow, glancing at the carriage windows. 'That's why we came here?'

'Yes.' answered both Karli and McGregor.

It was quiet, no one said anything for five minutes straight as their drinks were drank. Glim was the first to drink his tea, but afterward he remained sitting with his dismal look.

'I…' Glim stuttered. 'I want to take a walk.'

'You can't leave this platform, Glim.' said Karli. 'Gem's orders.'

'I-I know, I just want to move.'

Without a word, the little glaceon left his seat and McGregor swiftly strode aside for him to pass to the door. Nobody stopped him or said anything, which put a little surprise on Karli's face as she glanced at Shadow.

'Hey Shadow.' Karli whispered. The houndoom met the kirlia's worried eyes with a similar expression. 'You want to talk to him?'

'He… sounded like he just wanted space.'

'No excuse to just ask if he's okay.'

Shadow paused, looked toward the closed door and then nodded.

'Alright.'

With that, the houndoom quickly shuffled from his seats and left for the door. The giant dusknoir tried to fit himself onto the seats in place of Shadow.

Outside, Glim had forgotten how noisy it would get, especially late into the afternoon. The pokémon refugees appeared as shadows to the little glaceon, like he could not see them. Being on the very south platform, Glim had more to look at other than the usual sandwich of trains. However, the long bronze wall that stretch all along the station's underground had nothing different compared to the last refugee zone he went to. He was almost reminded of Beryl saying goodbye to his mother.

For no reason, Glim sat down, in the middle of the platform, just zoning out as every pokémon passed him without notice. His ears dropped, all noise turned into muffles, as he remembered something else, said by some calm, yet serious female.

'You are going to lose friends Glim, and you must move on when it happens.'

'Glim, honey?' asked Shadow, breaking the glaceon's deep contemplation and snapping him back to reality. The glaceon gasped lightly and glanced back at the houndoom, who responded with a sort of jumped expression. 'You alright?'

Glim's eyes sunk down. He thought it was Martyr behind him.

'Shadow.' Glim uttered.

'Yes?' asked Shadow, worriedly.

The little glaceon paused.

'Can I… tell you something?'

The houndoom sat down, only centimetres between each other. His hind legs stretched passed the glaceon's bottom. Shadow did feel a little awkward to be that close to Glim in a crowded space, but every time his eyes darted from those beautiful eyes of Glim, no one was noticing them.

'Don't need to ask sweetheart. You can tell me anything.' he whispered. 'What's wrong darling?'

'You remember when I got desperate about us not entering Larkspur?'

'Yeah?'

'Well… that was because I received a warning on the boat. I've been getting them a few times now, a voice, inside my head.'

'A voice?'

Glim nodded.

'I don't know who or what, but she's been giving me advice since we went to Symphonia. A-and yesterday…' Glim took a deep breath as his voice began to crack. 'She said that Martyr will soon come and kill my friends. But I don't know if that includes you, Karli or Ben.'

'But… why haven't you told any of us this?'

'Oh, hey everybody, Martyr's coming to kill us. I know because a voice in my head told me. Who's going to believe that?'

'Well, we might. I've encountered that thing- in fact Karli said she had twice. Why wouldn't she or her father believe you?'

Glim paused again, looking down.

'I-I only got it yesterday, I think. It was when we woke in the medical bay, with Ben.'

Shadow raised his head and glanced around.

'Did she say when and where?' Glim shook his head. 'Then let's stay close, let's stay together. Okay, sweetheart?'

The vulnerable glaceon paused, before giving a slow nod. The houndoom lowered his head also, but also tilted to let his lips make brief contact of Glim's. Immediately, the glaceon felt the warm surge pulsing down his back, making his tail erect. Shadow meanwhile received an oddly satisfying chill down to his tail, but the softness of those lips and crystallised eyes were hypnotic to him.

The two quadrupedal males were not quite aware that they were being watched by a certain frog-like pokémon who stood metres behind Shadow.

'Didn't know you two were a couple.' said Gem, with her arms crossed, but also smirking. Both Glim and Shadow heard the toxicroak and broke off their kiss to look back at her. 'Sorry to… but you guys and friends are wanted to be seen by vice leader Charlotte.'

'All of us?' asked Shadow.

'All of you who have known the magnezone, Sergeant. But since your kirlia friend and her father were part of its rescue, they will come too. And, you must see her now.'

Glim glanced up and Shadow, before nimbly falling out of his hold.

'I-I'll get the others.'

* * *

In the eerily dark computer room, where the team had their first mission briefing, Maladan stood waiting. The blastoise was not alone, apart from the usual bug and dark types on the computers, Charlotte, the mismagius vice leader emerged into the lonely light and the middle of the room.

From the door, hidden in the dark corridor, Gem entered carefully, trailing behind her was Shadow, Glim, Karli, McGregor and Tyson, in that order. As they entered Glim recognised Charlotte's face to be excited, yet exhausted, like a child who had achieved something and was in a celebratory mood. Her joyful expression seemed to be shared by the giant tortoise next to her, who had his arms folded with a satisfied smile. In the lone light however, they looked rather menacing to the little glaceon.

'Come in, come in!' said Charlotte, almost demanding. She was clearly in a rush and a little out of breath.

Karli, nor Shadow did not know what to make of Charlotte's unusually positive mood.

'You're "friend",' said Maladan, leaning forward. 'Has been quite the bombshell for our fight.'

'You mean Sergeant?' asked Glim.

Maladan nodded, while Charlotte descended and drew close to the beautiful glaceon, whose icy crown and big eyes twinkled from the lone light, making Glim appear so pure and innocent. The houndoom took a step forward, placing a paw in front of his glaceon as he stared down at the mismagius, who appeared to not notice Shadow's confrontation.

'You have no idea, do you?' said Charlotte, so pleasantly, eyeing Glim and his friends. 'After we found that Sergeant's tracker was off, destroyed in fact, it began to reveal, all, of the Republic's biggest flaws, weaknesses, mistrusts and even full scale maps! So, you may understand why a certain member of us had to see it for himself.'

The ghost drifted back upward.

'Uh… who?' asked Karli.

Charlotte darted down to face the little kirlia, inches away.

'Who do you think? Commander Rancour!' she drifted back once more, looking back over Glim and Shadow. 'I feel bad for even hunting you down! But there's more, on you two especially.' Glim looked up at Shadow, who remained focused on Charlotte, a little concerned. 'You two… would you call yourselves a couple?'

Both the glaceon and houndoom stuttered for a moment and Shadow quickly nodded.

'Yes, definitely!' he agreed.

Glim meanwhile looked to his right, catching eye contact with Karli, who looked curious, but her strong orange eyes somehow appeared worried.

'W-we haven't known each other long.' Glim said, getting quieter.

The houndoom tilted his head and gave an embarrassed grin.

'Y-yeah, but we've saved each other plenty of times.' said Shadow, winking at Glim, who could not see him.

The mismagius gave a sceptical look over Shadow and Glim.

'Hmm, regardless, I have somewhere to take you five. Come now.'

After giving Maladan one look, Charlotte drifted backward before turning round and heading for the back left corner of the big dark room. Shadow and McGregor could see that she was heading for a rather barricaded door hidden in the darkness.

Beyond the door was a long, narrow corridor, dimly lit in grey. It was surprising for Glim to hear that Maladan was even able to fit in there, as well as McGregor, despite their size. It felt so thin, it looked like the walls would close in. It was ghostly silent too, the only audible noises were the little paw steps of the glaceon, followed by his friends on their own feet, other than the two ghost types who had no legs.

Nobody spoke during the short trip down the eerie corridor. On the other end, Charlotte revealed it to be a gigantic shaft, like a vertical tunnel, held up by six silver pillars, stretching all the way through the floor from what little glaceon could see.

'I hope you like elevator rides,' said Charlotte, floating to a control podium. 'Because we're going pretty far down.' the mismagius held down one button, activating a communication speaker on the podium itself. 'Lonely brionne to lapras death, come in lower crew. Vice Commander Charlotte.'

The single, outdated speaker fuzzed with static noise before a low voice mumbled, 'Lapras death to lonely brionne, we read you Charlotte.'

'I have brought the crew of five as requested, send up the lift.'

'Face the cameras please.'

The mismagius jumped, quickly floating the centre of the room.

'Quick, quick!' she called, tugging Shadow and Karli closer to her as she looked up at an ominous, dusty security camera, eyeing the room. The camera looked out of use to Glim, he was not sure if it was even on, let alone working. 'Everyone look up at the camera, please.'

By that time, everyone already was and after a second or two, the muffled male voice uttered something that was barely audible. The message however, was short, finishing up with the podium cutting out, before Charlotte could return to it and answer.

The giant shaft began vibrating and clanking loudly, as the dark silhouetted chains started to ascend, pulling something huge up. After a five minute wait, something was emerging from the darkness. A platform, seemingly connected to the six pillars was pulled up by the chains. It was hard to tell how sturdy the platform was, as it was completely made of metal, but uneven and rusted. However, its condition was not the result of time, but many battles that took place on it.

'How stable is this, may I ask?' said McGregor.

'Stable enough to use Earthquake on,' replied Charlotte. 'There have been fights on this.'

Against the chain-link fence that separated the shaft and area where they stood was a small rectangular gap, like a door was once there, which had evidently been blown out. Even so, the gap was pretty small, so the crew had to step into the giant platform elevator one by one.

Once inside, the mismagius signalled her crew below by pressing a button on the podium, which she had to stretch through the fence to do. The lift than started with a slow and steady descend before picking up speed. The noise of chains were consistently clanking below the platform in the six pillars. It was surprisingly dark, Glim looked up, watching the faint grey light of the room they had left as it rapidly shrunk. Shadow stood by him, evidently concerned about the darkness too, even though they were with their friends.

Eventually, the darkness of the shaft suddenly ended when the elevator left the shaft itself and continued descended in the midst of a tremendous room, brightly lit in red. It made Glim, Shadow, Karli and Tyson glance about for sure. It appeared to be a rundown factory of sorts, what it was for was unclear, all there was not much machinery, most of which were merely conveyor belts. The room was very tall in fact, when the elevator left the shaft, still using the pillars, they were very high up. The only thing stopping the crew from falling off the elevator was the similarly thin chain-linked fence as the one far above. The room appeared to have many observations points and bridges, much like traditional factories, but one installation stood out on the other side of the room, which looked like an office that over watched its factory. That office also had a bridge leading up to it, one that that led from the floor the elevator was slowing down for.

The elevator stopped on level with the bridge, directly from the office to the suspended platform. Outside the elevator waited an ursaring, a sceptile, an aggron and another houndoom, much rougher-looking than Shadow. Seeing the bigger houndoom put Shadow on edge a little, not looking at him in the eye. The door remained closed until Charlotte went through it and told the elevator guards to open it.

As soon as the door opened, out of nowhere, a little espeon lunged in, frantically sniffing the crew. Seeing him had surprised Glim, Shadow and Tyson, while Karli just puzzled. The espeon appeared restless, glancing at every member within the elevator, Glim and Shadow especially, in fact the little glaceon got two more glances when the espeon even approached Karli. It seemed that he was being oddly curious, though the kirlia assumed the espeon was just doing checks, watching those deep purple eyes twitch so quickly, which were just as pretty as those of Glim. McGregor only got one glance and as the espeon dashed to Tyson, the sceptile guard beckoned for Glim to follow. So the little glaceon obliged, with a look at Shadow, wanting him to follow, of course he did and the other three guards seemed to not mind as the sceptile made his way across the bridge. For some reason the little espeon was taking a while, staring into the delibird's eyes, who stared back awkwardly. Tyson was a little unnerved, thinking the pretty lilac quadrupedal had a crush on him or something. Before leaving to follow after Glim, Karli looked back at Tyson, a little concerned why the espeon seemed suspicious about him.

'Please keep up.' said Charlotte to Karli and McGregor. 'This is an area of intense security. It is much appreciated that we stay together.'

The kirlia quickly caught up with the glaceon and houndoom, who were walking side by side, taking up the width of the bridge as it was pretty narrow.

'Security?' asked Karli, looking around, looking for guards other than the sceptile who was escorting them, while the other houndoom, ursaring and aggron stayed by the elevator.

'It would be difficult to see them in this lighting, but we have guards on the bottom floor and lots of them. This factory is… pretty deep, but that hasn't stopped intruders from finding their way here.'

'You mean… even- even Republics?'

'No, never. But even if they did find us, the guards are outfitted to appear as violent refugees.'

At that moment, nearing the middle of the bridge, Karli saw someone in a cloak, sat looking depressed against a wall and then noticed one after another. She could never see the ones directly below her with the strange red lighting, however the ones around the walls, over watching the crawlspaces and caverns were just visible. Something looked off though to Karli.

'How do you…' she whispered. 'How do you know if there's an imposter? They all look the same.'

Charlotte paused, looking down at the guards herself.

'They all share the scarf and we make sure to keep the number of guards the same, but…' Karli glanced at the mismagius. 'We've been on edge all morning about that.'

Up ahead, Glim could hear the chatter in the office, it was quite noisy despite the small amount of pokémon in there. But, the glaceon could recognise one of them, a low mechanical voice. He tried to see past the sceptile in front of him to see if it was Sergeant and just as they stepped onto the platform where the office stood, he could see the magnezone floating inside it, pointing at blueprints on some desk.

Just as the Sceptile stood in the doorway, preventing Glim and the others behind from entering, the office suddenly became silent.

'Commander. They have arrived.' boldly stated the sceptile.

There was no response, as Glim tried to peek around the tall dragon-gecko. Charlotte was the first to enter, drifting through a window, as the sceptile stood solid.

'Callie!' shouted Charlotte, back down toward the elevator.

Suddenly, the little girlish espeon slid between Shadow and Glim, then easily squeezed round the sceptile, entering the office.

Another moment of silence caused a delay, when finally, a low voice spoke.

'Bring them in.'

The sceptile guard stepped forward, followed by a side-step, letting Glim and Shadow in first. When he entered, the glaceon was a little afraid to look at the commander himself, so he took it slowly, first seeing the huge circular desk, stretching all around one individual. The desk was awash of papers, blueprints, maps and radios. Between it all was the legendary bisharp himself, Commander Rancour. Unlike most of the brutal armour plated pokémon he was, his armour was tattered, chips missing on the helmet blade that shoots upward like an axe. His right shoulder was practically bandaged up in his own medals and stripes. The bisharp wore an unusual blue scarf with two white triangular stripes on either end. Despite all his damages and battle-hardened appearance, his body was without any injury, not an eye lost or any war veteran cliché other than his age of late fifties.

Glim just stared at him with amazement, only noticing the three chess boards, one to his left, to his right and the last one being in front of him, all of which had intelligent psychic type pokémon as his challengers. The glaceon then looked up at Sergeant who winked back.

Tyson was the last to enter, sharing a similar expression with Glim.

'Everybody,' said Charlotte, turning to face the bisharp. 'Commander Rancour.'

Everyone just sort of stuttered awkwardly, unsure if they should salute or bow even. Rancour himself continued his three simultaneous games of chess.

'I was not expecting them to respect me, Vice Commander.'

'Just… introducing you, sir.'

Finally, the bisharp paused his games and leaned back, looking each member in the eye. His eyes were not expressing much emotion, perhaps stress at least. Rancour's glare however remained solid and unchanged. The little espeon, Callie, appeared from behind his desk as he climbed onto it like a stumbling kitten. The senior bisharp had to lean to his right to let the espeon whisper into his helmet. Seeing the espeon whisper to the Crimson leader felt unnerving for Glim and Karli, like something was wrong that they did not know.

'What of the delibird?' Rancour asked softly. Callie replied with more whispering, which only made the bisharp nod. 'Okay,' he paused, briefly looking at Shadow and Glim. Callie also glanced back at the unnerved glaceon and patient houndoom. 'What of those two?' once more, Callie replied in whispers, a little longer that time. 'It's a start nonetheless.' Rancour said out loud, leaning back into his seat.

'What is?' asked Shadow, becoming unnerved being kept in the dark.

Rancour shook his head.

'It does not concern you for now, houndoom.' the knight in bladed amour meshed his hands together. 'Just another idea, which we may not need. Especially after the revelations of your friend here.'

Glim looked up at Sergeant, as did most of his friends.

'That's right.' added the floating magnezone, surprisingly joyous in its tone. 'With my inside knowledge of the upper level and the Republic's failings, the commander, his team and I have devised multiple operations already, on how we will overthrow the Republic. And counting.'

The bisharp resumed his games of chess, on the board in front of him, he moved a rapidash piece in front of an opponent pawniard, preventing it from progressing. To his left, he slid a bisharp across to safely take out an opponent pawniard and on the right board, he used a far off palossand piece to take the opponent's vespiquen, after sacrificing a pawniard of his own. The turn was done in seconds, followed by his metallic hands becoming a rest for his head as he contemplated further.

'They are certainly a step forward, winning cards perhaps. But they are no reason to drop our guard.' Rancour looked over to Sergeant. 'The Republic may try to act on what you already know, if they know of your survival and if your knowledge had reached us. As in they may work on those weaknesses or execute secret operations you may not have known.'

'With respect, sir… I highly doubt that last one.' replied Sergeant. 'I was their "secret operations" instructor for some time, and well, we already know of their biggest weapon. It's not exactly hard to miss.'

'The Storm Walk.' said Charlotte.

'Yeah, but they're not going to blitz Haine completely, as long as we remain under the upper level. Otherwise, they would only be killing themselves.'

'We know them to be rash, hasty and desperate.' said Rancour, pausing. 'It wouldn't surprise me if they tried destroying all the supports to use the upper level as a giant crusher.' hearing that made the small pupils of the magnezone shorten further. Suddenly Glim was also not feeling safe being underground. 'However that is unlikely, almost all of the Republic rankings are on the upper level and they can forget about retreating to their Storm Walk, nowhere near enough space for them.'

'That…' said Sergeant, before whispering, 'Does sound like something they would do.'

'In worst case scenario, perhaps, which is why we should act fast. I asked for the presence of you five to confirm any suspicion of mine.'

'Suspicion?' asked Karli.

The knight in bladed armour nodded.

'The coincidence was just a little uncanny that our operations remained search, sabotage or rescue, until one day… your crews stepped into Haine. Suddenly I'm greeted by newcomers and with war-winning knowledge. Most of whom, know each other.'

'Well…' Sergeant interjected, glancing at McGregor.

'Not all of us knew each other beforehand.' interrupted Karli.

'Indeed.' confirmed Rancour, briefly looking at the little espeon to his left. 'It's why I had Callie take a quick peek into your intentions when you arrived.'

Everyone in the room quickly looked at the espeon, who then appeared flustered as he spun round agitated, before leaping onto Rancour's lap and curling into a ball to hide his face. Callie's cute act almost made the kirlia brood, making her smile.

'I'm sure we're all to help out.' said Sergeant, not to Rancour, but the five friends he looked at suspiciously. 'Right?'

Shadow, Tyson and Karli all blurted out yes, while Glim and McGregor merely nodded.

'From what Callie tells me,' said Rancour. 'Only one of you actually wanted to be here, to help that is.' his gaze fixed on the little kirlia, who kept her similarly determined face. 'The rest of you are either only here to help another,' he looked up at McGregor, followed by Shadow. 'Or… trying to survive.' not even looking at Glim or Tyson, as his uncertain tone said out what he thought of them.

The crew became a little quiet after his analysis of them. Though Karli could feel proud of her determination, she did not, only feeling like she had dragged her father who was only there because of her. The little glaceon and delibird just felt stupid for even coming to Haine.

'Regardless,' continued Rancour. 'You're… unusual reunion has brought about our next steps to winning the revolution. May you keep your heads down, or decide to help, you may live to see the end of all this. If so, you have the right to be proud of yourselves. For today, you are dismissed. For now, any eager Crimson soldiers will be out only to distract the Republic, so we do not seem too quiet.' his last words ended in whispers, muttering to the psychic pokémon within the room of his ideas.

'Am I to abide, sir?' asked Sergeant.

'Negative. We have not spoken yet of the Storm Walk's patrol schedules.'

'No problem.'

With that, Charlotte began wavering her cloak at the five guests, nodding at the exit. Rather quickly, they understood that they had to leave.

Crossing the bridge to the elevator, Karli was at the front, closely followed by her father. As Rancour had said, they would be proud of themselves, the kirlia was already feeling honourable, knowing the revolution could end very soon thanks to their help. She smiled up at McGregor.

'You see that, dad? Here we are, fighting for Crio, and winning.'

'Yes.' replied McGregor, seemingly overwhelmed. 'Even I had not foreseen this. But remember Karli, just because we got lucky, it was still incredibly dangerous. We lost Angel after all.'

The smile on Karli faded as she looked forward once more. Her spirit was vastly weakened remembering that it was because of Angel they had even gotten that far in the first place. The giant dusknoir paladin was regretting having said that.

Glim meanwhile did not know what to think, he was still in shock about Rancour revealing why the glaceon was in the death zone. Even though he wanted the revolution to end after what the Republic had done to him, rather like Beryl, he just did not want to be there. Worse, as he looked up at Shadow who smiled back, he was bringing him down with him.

Maybe a day's rest would clear their minds or emotional state, as they had earned the rest of the day off.

Up ahead, the elevator came into view. However, Karli and McGregor at the front noticed something. The guards were gone, yet the kirlia continued to walk, glancing round for them. It seemed she was not the only one.

'Whoa, wait a minute.' said Charlotte at the back. The sceptile guard spun to face the mismagius, as did Glim and Shadow who were just in front of him. Charlotte meanwhile was not even facing the elevator, but to the floor below. 'Where the hell is everyone?'

All the hooded guards of loyalty had disappeared from the dark red floor below, yet it was silent.

Suddenly the sound of glass shattering echoed all across the room, making everyone on the bridge glance back at the office. It was the fogged window metres away from Rancour's right that had been blown in with a hooded kabutops, who was thrown into the kadabra sitting in front of Rancour. The noise escalated hugely, as crashing kabutops signalled Rancour, Sergeant, Callie and the nearby beeheeyem and bronzor to retaliate. Their attention seemed focused on another hooded intruder flying in from the same window, apparently hitting the beeheeyem into the doorframe of the office. The magnezone inside levitated, calling out in surprise. Rancour meanwhile appeared to reveal the blades within his gauntlet arms and shoot a wave of energy to the intruder.

Before the struggle even began, Charlotte and the sceptile guard bolted toward the office without Glim and his friends. It was about a second later did they also follow suit, of course Karli was the first, sinking into the bridge floor and shooting passed Glim and just behind the sceptile. McGregor at the back was about to do the same when something flashed in his head.

'No wait!' he called out to Glim and Karli.

Nearing the end of the bridge, the hooded intruder, having dodged Rancour's Psycho Cut, cartwheeled out of the door, where she then pounded the edge of the bridge, breaking it off instantly and causing it to swing downward. The sceptile was quick enough to leap when it happened, but was kicked away when he approached the intruder. Karli also tried to jump, but was too late to reach the floor outside the office and fell with the sceptile.

'Shit!' yelled Karli.

The mismagius meanwhile quickly fired a ball of shadows at the intruder, who easily dived over it, still on the metal flooring. Using the momentum to her advantage, the hood rolled up onto the handrail, lit up in flames and shot perfectly into the levitating ghost, causing her to bounce up.

On the broken bridge swinging down, Glim, Shadow, Tyson and Karli were falling to the great drop below. Using the bridge to his advantage, McGregor sunk into it using Shadow Sneak and swooped down it as it swung, making him beneath his friends. He then leaped from the bridge, proceeding to catch Glim and Shadow. He knew Tyson was partly a bird and with ability to stay airborne, so he had to leave him as he then focused on falling to the floor before his daughter did. Karli was not going to be able to use Shadow Sneak into the wall she was falling close to and struggled to keep her balance.

'Whoa, whoa! Gregor!' yelled Shadow, holding him tightly as did Glim.

Despite the danger, the little glaceon could only look up, he recognised the mighty intruder as her cloak caught fire. When she landed back on the handrail, she threw it off, revealing herself to be the infernape Glim had missed.

Suddenly, Glim's daze had shook to an end when McGregor had landed hard on his back, followed immediately by the impact of Karli, landing on his torso. The kirlia bounced off her father and crashed on to the floor nearby, almost landing on Shadow who was released from McGregor's hold, along with Glim. The dusknoir gave a long grunt in pain.

Much further above, Jane landed back onto the metal flooring outside the office entrance. Her one-eyed gaze at the commander showed she was there for blood. She waited for the bisharp to swiftly climb over his desk, while Callie and the lone bronzor drew by his side. Being psychic types, they would have advantage over Jane's immense fighting skill. However, a metal hand rose before the espeon's face.

'Stay back.' he said to them.

Callie worriedly only took a few steps back, near the end of the ruptured desk, while the bronzor floated over to help up the kadabra, trapped under the unconscious kabutops.

Rancour paused, staring emotionlessly at the furious infernape. All he knew was that Jane was pissed and after it him it seemed. He wanted to say something, wanted to ask why she was attacking his soldiers, but imagined he already knew. Most assassins hunted for him either for the Republic, or because of the revolution itself, and Rancour was unconvinced that the infernape was part of the Republic.

Jane grabbed hold of the doorframes tightly and burst herself into flames, as she did to Charlotte. Rancour knew what was coming and held out his left gauntlet, while the other hid behind him. Suddenly Jane catapulted forward, using the door to push herself lunging toward Rancour, who just as quickly leaped up, rolling right to meet his right metal fist over Jane's head as she ended up zooming under him and obliterating the desk. The bisharp landed easily, facing the wall Jane had crashed into.

The desk was severed in two and the impact sent Callie, the chessboards with all its pieces flying around the office. A blizzard of paperwork followed soon covered the floor as the infernape grunted, knocking off the wood she brought with her after crashing into the wall. Callie nearby managed to catch himself before slamming onto the floor also.

Jane quickly stood, grabbing a part of the desk and flung it, only to be met with a sudden cut from Rancour, using the blade on his gauntlets. The infernape then jumped over the debris of the desk, closing in on the knight in bladed armour, who only took steps back to avoid her next attack. That time he had underestimated Jane, as her veins visibly pulsed white like lightning as she pounded the floor of the office, causing the entirely steel floor to tremor so violently, it propelled Rancour and the other two psychic types into the ceiling. Their landing was not any easier, as the little espeon was helplessly being thrown around, while the bisharp had to cut into the floor to keep himself staying on it. Jane had also been steadying herself, since Earthquake can be a surprisingly tricky technique to use.

The tremors ended quickly, just before the floor stopped jittering up and down Jane erupted in flames once more and charged to the door, where Rancour stood. That time, the bisharp had nowhere to jump, so instead he spun back slamming his back on the outside of the office, letting the infernape zoom out and flying off the broken bridge.

The giant fireball that was Jane had died down as she realised how far she was falling and focused all her momentum in breaking her fall. She was hurtling at a great speed from her reckless attack, which enabled her to roll forward upon impact and sustain much less damage than McGregor did. Rolling across the long lonesome light red ground, Jane landed back on her feet and glared back up at the bisharp, still just outside his office.

Rancour gently walked over to the door, still keeping his eyes on Jane. Just behind Rancour, Callie ran up to him. The bisharp however, raised his metal hand once more to the little espeon, telling him to stay back.

On the floor below, on the darker left side, Glim stood, eyes fixed on the glint of blazing fire at the centre of the room. All he could see was the bright flame amber flame that streamed out of the infernape's head, as the rest of her was somehow clouded in red mist, combined with the dust and dirt thrown up by her landing. Two rows of conveyor belts to his right and heading to the other side were also obstructing his view, since Glim was so small. The little glaceon ran, struggling to stay balanced after his cushioned impact.

'Glim wait!' called Shadow.

From the freezing metal floor well above, Rancour lightly stepped off, hitting the floor hard with his metal fist. He had spread out his knees and feet, to endure the impact without getting too close to the infernape ahead of him.

Jane slowly approached, leaving the carcass that was the fallen bridge, while Rancour was also approaching, walking a little quicker than the infernape, like he was walking normally.

When the bisharp and infernape were only metres apart, Jane allowed her right arm to pulse white as she quickly leaped back and tried to fight smart by using Earthquake at a distance. After Jane had sunk her fist into the solid ground, Rancour also jumped back, using the rupturing ground to his advantage, which had hit him upward and inflicted less damage than it would have done. In the air, Rancour had enough momentum to spin round, letting his gauntlet blade dart out as it lit up. During his spin, the energy built up in his gauntlet was released into a Psycho Cut when the bisharp swung his arm out. The wave of energy cleanly hit Jane across her right arm and torso, while she was stabilising from the fierce tremor. The attack forced her back into a tumble. She did not even grunt however, despite the pain she was in.

Jane growled, instantly generating huge, white and careless flames around her. Rancour meanwhile had only landed, several metres south-east from where the Earthquake had lifted him. He could smell the reckless fury, raging off his assassin.

The infernape leaped left, and then right, instead of darting straight into the bisharp, who would have only used the momentum to his advantage. Jane appeared to be skating quickly toward Rancour, encased in a huge ball of fire. Rancour readied himself to use Sucker Punch, unsure if he could dodge what was coming for him. Just as Jane was only metres in front of Rancour, she leapt up, landing almost on her side and tried to kick the bisharp at his feet. Having seen the attack before, Rancour bent his knee and swiftly blocked the oncoming kick, which was surprisingly weak. Suddenly, he regretted making that block as the blazing infernape before him appeared to stop completely and use her other leg to launch her Flare Blitz into the bisharp. The attack sent the two flying from where Jane had used it, coating them like a fiery comet. For once Rancour grunted loudly in pain, as did Jane who was getting herself cut from the bisharp's armour. They crashed against a huge inactive machine, leaving a gigantic, black crater within it.

The impact had Jane bounce off, while Rancour was stuck for a moment, as his bladed armour cut into the broken down machine. He simply slipped off, his armour badly ruptured from the flames. The infernape meanwhile appeared in a worse state, she was unable to land easily and was on her knees, several metres from the bisharp. Her attack had resulted with recoil damage, made worse since Rancour had bladed armour, having left two horizontal cuts just beneath Jane's breasts. Still she stood and Rancour appeared angry, raising his gauntlets like shields, as the blades came out.

'Okay, infernape.' said Rancour, through clenched teeth. 'Now you've pissed me off.'

Jane stood as straight as she could. Her shoulders were resisting to cringe, her stomach cramped furiously after her impact and she tried desperately hard to not cry out in pain. Instead she screamed out, hitting the floor once more with all her might and pain, sending cracks within the floor, shooting off in a plus formation. The ones left and right would only reach a wall and spit up the hardened ground, but the one heading straight for Rancour was suddenly diverted, when the bisharp fired a Psycho Cut into the ground, sending the Earthquake to tremor away from him. Rancour then immediately jumped up and shot another wave of energy from his blades, while Jane appeared too focused on her ground attack. Before the infernape even saw the attack, she was suddenly propelled back, pushing her into a tumble. The Psycho Cut had left a very deep gash in her right arm, causing blood to flood out in streams.

As Jane struggled to get back up, clasping her arm as she did, Rancour remained keeping his distance.

'Determined, aren't you?' said Rancour, raising his right gauntlet once more, letting its blade glow. 'But you cannot end a war alone.'

Jane and Rancour paused, staring into each other. The infernape had bitter fury, shaping her eye, though the slight posture of her lower eyelid showed despair, in a way she had nothing to lose. The bisharp meanwhile showed nothing, only a hint of pain he had just endured.

Suddenly a huge ball of shadows whipped between them, while Jane and Rancour were staring each other down. Neither of them even twitched or when the Shadow Ball exploded after meeting the wall behind the conveyor belt nearest to them.

'Stop!' screamed the girlish voice of Glim.

The little glaceon was running so quickly between them, he tumbled and fell on his face. Rancour meanwhile stayed as he was, still with his gauntlet blade ready to fire. Glim stood, turning to face the bisharp as he backed closer to Jane.

'Stop commander! This is a friend of mine!' he said, glancing round to look up at Jane, who still glared at the bisharp much further away. 'Jane, stop!' Glim stood on his hind legs, paws on the infernape's waist as he tried to look into her eye. 'It's me-'

Suddenly the little glaceon was met by a swift hit across his head from the infernape, forcing him to fall onto his right.

For a moment, Jane's gaze remained fixed on Rancour, hungry for blood, but then her head turned to face the little glaceon, on the floor next her. Her face then grew shocked while still furious. Glim looked back up at her, shaking off the hit. His enormous pretty eyes appeared brave, serious, yet somehow scared too.

'Glim?' whispered Jane, her voice strangled by fury.

The glaceon stood up, keeping his eyes on hers.

'It's me Jane. Please stop.'

Glim and Jane paused still, as did Rancour.

'Glim!' called Shadow, running from the red mist of dust, shortly followed by Sergeant who descended from above.

The infernape glared back at Rancour.

'Jane, Jane!' cried Glim, placing his paws on her again. 'Don't do this! You'll get yourself killed!'

'It… has to end Glim.' Jane quietly hissed, looking down at him. 'One side has to fall remember?'

'That's not why you're doing this!' said Glim, followed by a pause. 'You're doing this for Oswald.' again, Glim and Jane remained staring at each other, motionlessly. 'You're doing this because you think you're avenging him. Jane, that drapion who killed him was not part of the Crimson. He was just some murderer using the revolution to his advantage.'

'And how do you know that?'

'I met one of his "friends" when we were in Symphonia, and they weren't even part of the Crimson either.'

'Symphonia?' said Rancour.

'It-it doesn't matter, Glim, he's dead!'

'I know he's dead Jane!' cried Glim, tears slowly forming over his eyes as he resisted his mouth trembling. 'He was stuck in my head when he died remember? You didn't think I made all that up, did you?' Glim and Jane paused, meanwhile Rancour finally withdrew his blade and stood normally. 'He asked me… to stop you whenever you got too careless.'

'Shut up, Glim.' replied Jane quietly, closing her eye.

'I'm not making this up!'

'I said shut up!'

The infernape pushed the little glaceon from her, who that time landed on all fours. Jane meanwhile used too much energy in just shoving Glim away, as she fell on her knees again. She seemed to finally give in to her exhaustion as she used her hands to support her.

By that time, Karli, Tyson and McGregor had caught up, neither of them were using Shadow Sneak as they stopped by Shadow. They were not alone, Charlotte was rising from the ground with a face of fury after getting badly hurt. The sceptile guard also limped into the scene, just passing the floating mismagius. But as they approached further, Rancour himself raised his hand, telling them to stay back, which they did, seeming surprised about that.

'I lost a baby that day too, Glim.' Jane whispered.

Glim approached again, his icy crown right up against the fire that continued to blaze from Jane's head.

'I know…' uttered Glim, almost crying. 'I was so sorry about that, you know I was. But Jane.' the glaceon had to crouch down to meet his big eyes with her lone, depressed eye. 'Killing Rancour would solve nothing… actually, it would make things worse. You know what the Republic would do if they win, and Oswald… would Oswald be happy to know you killed for him?'

Suddenly, Jane's hands clenched, her teeth clenched as she looked away from Glim, trying to prevent anyone seeing the tear that had formed against her will. She broke.

The glaceon felt confident enough to approach the infernape more, tucking his head against the shoulder Jane had left open. Glim then raised his paws as far as he could around the infernape, who just as slowly did the same.

'Now listen to your friend.' said Rancour, boldly. 'Killing me would have only meant Crio's fall. The Republic would have let loose the carnage and mass murdering that started this revolution in the first place.'

'Sir,' called Charlotte, angrily. 'This infernape is trying to kill you!'

'Stand down, Vice Commander.'

The mismagius sighed, glaring still at the infernape.

Shadow stepped forward, walking to the space between Glim and Rancour.

'Jane is a good friend of ours, sir,' he said to Rancour. 'If you let her stay with us, we'll talk her out of this.'

Rancour nodded.

'Then you do that.'

'What!' interjected Charlotte. 'You can't be serious, sir! This is a very dangerous assassin!'

'And, she could be an ally. We don't have the recruiting powers we had before vice commander. However,' Rancour looked over at Shadow. 'She is right to be worried for my security, as spared assassins have had a change of heart before. Make sure your friend stays within your perimeters during her time with us. Do you understand?'

'Yes sir.' replied Shadow.

'Also, where are my other guards?' asked Rancour, looking at Jane. 'I'm smelling no blood, so-'

'Sir!' interrupted the sceptile bodyguard. 'Most of the west wing are laying in a corner back there.' he said, pointing behind him, at the thick red mist. 'All unconscious. Taken hits to their heads. Might I suggest calling the medics? The ones down here are knocked out too.'

'Yes, yes!' ordered Charlotte. 'Get all of them down here! Squad A, they're closest.'

Glim looked back at Rancour, as far as he could.

'Jane's hurt too… um.'

'She,' said Rancour, glancing at the rest of Glim's companions. 'Will be going back upstairs. Any dire injuries Squad A will patch when they get down here.'

'I'm fine.' said Jane, finally letting go of Glim.

The little glaceon looked back up at the calmed infernape, who looked only miserable.

'Even if you are,' replied Rancour. 'You're in no state for any assistance today.'

With that, the bisharp turned toward to the old metal stairs, which would lead to the floor of his office.

As Glim helped the infernape to stand, Charlotte still stared at Jane with a disgruntled look.

'How did you even get down here in the first place?' demanded Charlotte.

Jane however seemed too agitated with pain to reply, she could not stop twitching and limping. Glim and Shadow proceeded to act as supports for the infernape. She did not appear surprised at all when noticed the houndoom to be Shadow.

'H-how do we get back up to the elevator?' Glim asked Charlotte.

Before the mismagius answered, the sceptile also appeared eager to leave the deepest basement floor as he passed them.

'Down here.' he said, pointing at similar stairs that Rancour was climbing, only on the other side.

Behind Charlotte, Sergeant was quickly speaking with Karli, Tyson and McGregor, assuming it was to stay with Rancour for the time being. Karli nodded, gradually following after Glim, Shadow and Jane, who already turned to leave.

It had become rather noisy in the basement, as the guards hidden in corners around the basement floor were struggling in their wake.

Glim and his crew stood by the elevator entrance. Only the sceptile guard was present after Jane's assault. It felt awkward and somehow lonely just waiting for the lift. No one was talking to each other as they waited. Glim was confused, he thought Jane would a lot to say after what happened, given that she had not seen him for so long. Not even Karli or her father were talking, the dusknoir remained as patient as ever, while the little kirlia kept her head down. Once again, Tyson appeared to be a total oddball, though he was happy to see that Sergeant was okay, except the magnezone was to stay down there for a while longer.

After several minutes of uncomfortable silence, the distant droning sound of something very heavy and connected to such metal was descending out of the shaft. The elevator neared its destination, immediately making the room a lot noisier. On board was the medical crew Charlotte had called for. There were a lot of them despite it just being a group. Mostly the common medically gifted pokémon, three azumarill, a chansey, a gardevoir, two audino and a volcarona, just in case. The medics swarmed off the elevator when the door opened, almost bottlenecking it in their eagerness to help. Some of them gave a quick gaze at Glim and his friends when they left, seemingly ignoring them, though Glim could see on some of their faces that they looked worried for Jane.

It was not long before Glim and his crew, along with Charlotte and the sectile guard were ascending up the elevator, having been ignored by the medical crew who were ordered to do so by Charlotte beforehand. On board, Jane stood in the very middle, seeming unaware of the gap around her, like the others were avoiding her, other than Glim and Shadow, while the sceptile and Charlotte stayed behind her. As before, no one said a word, perhaps they just had enough for one day. However, for Glim, something was telling him that a break was the last thing he was achieving.

Something felt horrible for the glaceon. Pressure was suddenly taking a grip over his breathing. He looked around, still with everyone stone still and silent as the elevator continued, with the occasional shaft lights blaring across everyone's faces. It was something else Glim thought. He glanced to Shadow next to him, who seemed to take notice of his rising dread. At that moment, Glim heard them.

'We pleaded.' echoed the voices of many.

There was a pause, as chills ran up Glim's spine.

'Did someone say something?' asked McGregor.

It appeared that everybody had heard the voice. Charlotte who remained glaring Jane was looking around the elevator, secretly curious to know who said that. Glim meanwhile looked to his left, looking past Jane and at Karli, who was looking back with a similarly tensed expression. Staring into each other's eyes, they noticed a wave of blackness, ascending with the elevator, just between it and the shaft itself. It was the unown, hundreds of them, swarming all around the elevator, replacing the bright shaft lights with their ominous soulless light green eyes. Everyone who were not facing the fencing around the elevator had spun round to see the unown slowly rising ahead of them.

'What the!' shouted Charlotte. 'The hell is this! Where did all of you come from?'

No one answered.

Other than Karli and Glim, everyone just looked around a little confused, even Shadow despite having encountered the unown before.

'We wailed.' the voices wheezed, a little louder that time. 'We died.'

Suddenly, the unown on the side with door, sunk down below the elevator as it was nearing the top.

Waiting at the top, were Gem and Maladan. First there to send down the medical team, then waited to direct Rancour's visitors out.

'We are Martyr.' the voices continued.

'Hey,' called Gem. 'What's going on down there?'

The elevator stopped on level with the shaft entrance, where the blastoise and toxicroak waited. Both Maladan and Gem were pretty focused on the wall of unown that had floated up behind the elevator.

'Get us out of here now!' cried Karli.

Charlotte dashed through the fencing and triggered the door to open.

'Where did they come from?' Gem asked Charlotte.

'I don't know!'

Inside the elevator, Glim was the first to run to the door, which was still unlocking. Karli was close behind, dragging her father with her, who was warily looking back at the creepy floating letters. As the door unlocked and began to open, Glim saw it all in slow motion as he witnessed a dark purple shadow materialising further down the room, well behind Maladan, Gem and Charlotte. His eyes were no longer pretty, as they transformed into terrified dots.

'Revenge be ours.' spoke the unown, just as the human remnant had fully materialised.

'Behind you!' cried Glim, pointing desperately at Martyr.

Maladan, Charlotte and Gem spun round, facing the eyeless human who stood steadily. The mismagius drifted back, a little surprised.

'You're supposed to lock the door!' said Charlotte, glancing at Gem and Maladan.

'We did!' replied Gem.

The blastoise placed his claw on the floor, allowing the cannons within his shell to take aim at Martyr.

'Identify yourself!' ordered Maladan.

Martyr did not reply, only staring at Glim. It then raised its arm as three unown appeared, circling around its hand. Martyr then waved out its arm and on the end, the unown flashed, seemingly combining into something long, held within Martyr's hand. It was a sword, a scimitar, to be exact. The thick hand guard and handle resembled the clean black material the surrounded the unown eye, and the long blade was an immaculate, bloodless silver. Despite it was made out of unown, there were no eyeballs or unique lettering anywhere on it.

Without warning, the blastoise blasted his water cannons, causing water to rebound all over the drop off point. It was hard to see if Martyr was affected in any way by Maladan's attack. Gem stood guard, while Charlotte became airborne. It looked as though the incredibly powerful beam of water was blocked by something immovable. The mismagius had assumed the human to use Light Screen or something.

Glim knew what was coming next, as he stepped back and Shadow worriedly placed a paw just in front of him.

'That was a human!' said McGregor.

As the blast of water continued, wearing the blastoise down, the same sword emerged out of the blasting, still in Martyr's grasp as it glowed bright white.

'Oh my god.' whispered Glim, before screaming 'Everybody down!'

Martyr swished the sword horizontally, creating a massive wave of energy, so wide it easily cut into either side of the walls of the room where it stood. In the way, Maladan was struck back, flying into the fencing, while Gem was simply cut in half, like butter. Charlotte avoided the Psycho Cut, but wind created by its force had blown her into the elevator. Inside, everyone had taken Glim's command and dived for the floor as the attack cut through, bringing an almost severed blastoise into the elevator, but also cutting every support. Just as suddenly, the elevator snapped, falling like a brick in the sky.

Rather quickly, Shadow, Karli, Tyson and the sceptile screamed out. Far below them the platform fell a lot faster than them, leaving the falling pokémon behind.

McGregor was falling faster than his friends for being a heavy dusknoir in armour, however, it was not long ago that he saved the others from the same situation. To fall slower, the dusknoir drifted as close as he could to the shaft wall before he left it, descending into the room. With seconds to spare, he had to reach out for the wall, which pull him into it and halted his fall just enough so he was level with most of his friends. It appeared Jane had also resorted to the methods of slowing her fall by grinding her fist guard against the wall. The dusknoir propelled himself from the wall, as his daughter managed to grab hold of him that time. Shadow and Glim reached out for McGregor, but while the giant ghost managed to take the houndoom's paw, the glaceon had drifted too far from either of their reach. However, Glim was just in reach of Jane, who forcefully grabbed him close to her, as they left the shaft, falling into the room below.

Ahead of the crew, the platform smashed to pieces, echoing like thunder and creating a hurricane of dust in its aftermath. From that height, it was hard to see the ground crew, but it was obvious they were attempting something below for the falling pokémon.

Jane continued to hold Glim tightly and as soon as they left the shaft with the ground, she lightly held onto the pillars that surrounded the elevator, slowing their fall. McGregor meanwhile held tightly onto Shadow, as did Karli.

'Hold on!' said McGregor.

Above them, Charlotte swooped down to catch the sceptile, while Tyson drifted down much slower than everybody else.

It was only seconds later when McGregor was feeling the force of psychic energy, coming from two of the underground guards, both who were still concuss from Jane's infiltration. It was not enough power to stop the dusknoir from crashing into the pile of scrap, however McGregor was prepared for it. Rather than crashing horrifically, he sort of just sunk into the dangerous debris like water, taking Karli and Shadow with him. Immediately afterward, Jane's arm was hurting from her slide down the damaged pillar so when the opened door way came into her aim, she leapt for it, still falling at some speed. The medical crew who were present around the elevator hurriedly moved out of the infernape's way, who crashed-rolled across the floor and covering little Glim in her other arm as well as she could. Jane rolled so far, she almost fell off the edge of the second level. The same medical crew however, were quick to help them up.

Back in the elevator, McGregor holding both Karli and Shadow rose up from the junk, silhouetted black at first before leaving the effect of Shadow Sneak. Shadow however, had a shocked look in his eyes.

'That was terrifying.' he said, before the dusknoir let him down. Shadow then ran out the elevator. 'Glim!'

Moments later, Tyson descended, flapping his little wings as much as he could. Also descending above the delibird, were Charlotte and the sceptile, both of who were looking back up at the shaft.

'What, the fuck, was that thing?' said Charlotte.

Glim and Jane stood, shaking themselves off. The infernape had her serious expression again as she looked up at the shaft. The glaceon meanwhile, accompanied by his houndoom was unable to keep still. Glim glanced around madly, only seeing the medical crew asking if they were okay, or the two guards yelling out in confusion, or trying to speak to the mismagius still in the elevator.

On the other side of the room, on the same level, Rancour stepped out, having witnessed the commotion. Sergeant, just behind the bisharp, was apparently helping with restoring the room back to the way it was when it fixed its eyes on the elevator. Callie meanwhile was already standing outside, almost on the edge of the overhead level, where the bridge once was.

Catching glimpse of the bisharp, Glim stood on his end of the collapsed bridge.

'Commander, sir!' he called. 'We have to evacuate! Martyr is coming!'

Rancour stared back at the glaceon with a motionless expression. Neither confused nor worried, but rather alert.

'Charlotte?' Rancour called.

The sectile guard was let go, landing easily on the remains on the elevator platform, as the mismagius flew through the fencing.

'Sir!' she responded. 'Lieutenants Maladan and Gem were just killed, by some intruder. And with it appeared to be army of unown!'

'What specie is the intruder?'

'Human, sir! I think.'

'Human?' Rancour muttered. 'Guards, assemble!' immediately, every pokémon on the bottom floor stood and threw off their cloaks, most of who were still being treated by the present medical team. The medical team backed away, some of which were also attending the command Rancour gave. 'Is it coming down?'

The mismagius, as well as some of the guards below her, briefly looked up the elevator shaft. They could see nothing but pitch blackness.

'It does not appear to be, sir! It's a long drop.'

Rancour glanced back to his office.

'Then they may not be after me.'

The bisharp only took two steps before leaning into his office. Near the doorway was a massive device, fixed underneath the wide window to his left. He gave one look at the magnezone and nodded at the device. Sergeant responded by moving over and opening it. Protected inside was a big red button. The magnezone gave Rancour one last glance, before hitting it hard with one of its magnets. Immediately, red lights on the ceiling blared, raising the alarm.

'Sir!' called Charlotte. 'Orders!'

Rancour stepped out, all eyes on him.

'The base is under attack, and the enemy has targeted our intelligence and communication! We will divide and take the stairs to join the fight. If it's just one, we will fight! Unown can barely fight, so refrain from wasting energy on them! Attack in wave formation, should they appear, don't take all of them on alone! Is that clear!'

The uncloaked pokémon replied 'Sir, yes sir!' in unison, though Glim and Shadow had a bit of delay to their response, while Karli and Tyson said nothing at all. Rancour then looked directly into the eyes of Glim, who still had his look of terror and breathlessness.

'Go with them!' Rancour shouted.

Suddenly, Glim felt a tug on his ear, which was Karli pulling him back to join the rush of CR soldiers sprinting for the exit.

'What about us, sir?' asked Sergeant.

The bisharp glanced back at the magnezone, then looked down at little Callie just next to him, holding his ears down as he shivered. The espeon was scared of alarms.

'You can levitate, can you not?' asked Rancour.

'Yes sir.'

'I want you to take us up there. I want to see this… human, for myself. Callie will shield us.'

The ladylike espeon glanced up at the knight in bladed armour.

It was only a minute later, was the magnezone ascending up the elevator, with the bisharp standing so steadily on it, and with the little espeon held in his arms. Both Rancour and Callie were looking straight up, as if preparing to face Martyr head on. But when they reached the shaft entrance, there were no unown present. All that remained was the purple bloody remains of Gem's lower half and water left from Maladan's attack, whose corpse was not present.

'Anybody, Callie?' asked Rancour.

The espeon was glancing round, both shocked and scared.

Callie's silence meant that Martyr was nowhere to be seen, so the bisharp looked up at the state of the elevator. He noticed two huge very straight gashes on either side of the wall from the room and wondered if the attack had continued. Looking back, he saw that the wall just behind him was on the verge of collapsing, as there was a perfect horizontal line cutting all along where the elevator supports once were. The sign of Martyr's power was present all around Rancour, just looking at the gashes in the walls made the bisharp think of Glim.

* * *

On top of an almost pitch black well of stairs, Glim, followed closely behind by Shadow and Tyson were losing breath after running up all the stairs, trying to keep up with the squadron of Rancour's soldiers. Already on the top were Karli and McGregor who simply used the walls to Shadow Sneak their way to the top, while Jane, even in her condition was able to keep up with them.

The three friends at the top only waited for the glaceon, houndoom and delibird to reach their level, when they did, they ran out of the stairwell together.

Outside the dark stairwell, Jane who ran ahead first found herself in a private room, sealed off from the underground station that was just behind the opened door ahead of her. The guards had evidently smashed through it in their eagerness to run for the monitor room on the same side.

The infernape was about to pass the broken doors that had caught the attention of many children on the other side, when she stopped and looked back at her allies.

'Hold on.' said Jane. 'Where're we going?'

The five friends slowed, appearing just as eager as the CR soldiers who left them behind. Karli stepped forward.

'To fight-' she stuttered and then looked down, looking terribly perplexed.

'We can't fight Martyr!' squeaked Glim. 'Not when he's like that.'

'I must agree.' interjected McGregor. 'That creature was supernatural for sure. I will not let Karli fight it.'

For once, Karli had no objections, after having to put up with Martyr twice before and lost friends on both occasions.

'It'd be hard to run from something like that,' said Jane. 'Can't we just kill it?'

'We've tried,' cried Glim. 'It just keeps coming back.'

'Then what are we doing?'

Glim paused, his ears twitched, suddenly remembering the words of the mysterious female.

'We get the hell out of here.' he replied quietly. 'But! We must take Ben and Meg on our way out.'

'They're here?'

Glim nodded, when McGregor interrupted.

'No, should we delay, that creature could have us at any moment!'

'Dad.' Karli whispered.

'It appeared out of nowhere!'

'Terri's with them, and those children.'

The dusknoir paused, only for two seconds before he sighed.

'Alright, but let's get moving, now.'

Immediately, Jane back-stepped out of the doorway, her eyes on Glim, hoping he would know where they were and where to find the platform. Karli and McGregor remember the platform being number 31, so the little kirlia took one look at the nearest overhead sign just ahead of her and pointed north from where she stood. They had come out onto platform 40.

'Over that way!' she cried.

Rather than running down the platform to take the stairs, McGregor swiftly grabbed Shadow and Glim, told Tyson to fly and Shadow Sneaked through the wall of trains that separated the platforms. Jane meanwhile simply jumped onto the train and ran, using the trains as stepping stones. Karli followed immediately after her father looked to her before sinking into the ground.

As usual, the underground was crowded, pokémon of many species everywhere. Most of which were either heading up or down the platforms, making the struggle for Jane and the friends much more aggressive.

On platform 35, McGregor was forced out of the floor to rest himself a bit, as shadow sneaking was aching him, especially, with two others in his arms. Karli appeared just behind him, while Tyson and Jane landed afterward. The dusknoir looked back, making sure they were still with him, as did Glim. More worryingly, the glaceon spotted something ascending from the train his infernape friend had leaped from. A U letter unown, along with a G was following them. The unown were undoubtedly one of those of Martyr, with their horrifying green, soulless eye and by the way they would twitch.

McGregor did not see the two unown, nor did the others, as they only carried on until they got to platform 31. Where the giant ghost seemed to bounce out, almost out of energy for his Shadow Sneak technique. Glim and Shadow were dropped, almost falling over when they landed. Karli however, landing smoothly next to her father seemed just fine. The crew seemed unconcerned for McGregor, as they darted around for Ben's train carriage, B244. Only Karli at present had been there.

The carriage they were looking for was at the end of the platform, except they were on the opposite end. Karli quickly checked the trains that they stood between, just to make sure.

'Crap!' said Karli, glancing down the platform. 'They're on the other end!'

As Karli was speaking, Glim was facing the nearest end of the platform, when his pupils went small. At the end, were the usual stairs that lead to the upper basement level and from it, unown were slowly swarming out of the floor above, like durant from their anthill. It was catching the attention of pokémon climbing the stairs or nearby it, but Glim had his eyes frozen on the dark figure fading into existence, while it was descending the stairs. It was Martyr, stopping when it set foot on the platform and hissed like a sick dinosaur. As the human remnant roared, the rest of Glim's friends gave it one glance, before they bolted, running for the other side.

Martyr summoned its sword again, stretched its arm to its far left before swinging right and blasting out what looked like a tidal wave of light. It was a Psycho Cut attack, so massive and powerful, it grew bigger as it sped down the platform, easily cutting into the trains, platform after platform, eventually spreading wide enough to reach either side of the underground. Nothing was stopping its unstoppable cutting, including the pokémon, as it was severing whoever became in the way of it. Not even steel or dark types were able to endure the Psycho Cut as it cut through them like water. Just as it was rapidly killing pokémon, the train tracks began to flood with blood.

Only just ahead of the attack, Glim and Shadow were sprinting for their lives, while Karli had leapt on to her father, forcing him into the ground, allowing her to Shadow Sneak further down the platform. Jane was the only one looking back as she was capable of running much faster. From Glim's point of view, the face of the infernape running ahead of him began to light up.

'Duck, duck!' Jane shouted.

Glim and Shadow practically dived into the floor, sliding on their fronts as the gigantic cut had shot over the three of them. It appeared that Martyr had used Psycho Cut at a slight angle as the right side was much higher than the left side, where Tyson crashed as the attack blew by. Seconds later, Martyr's attack quickly dispersed in particles of light while it cut into the centre support pillar, which received a hugely deep gash, cutting half way across it.

For a brief moment, when the attack disappeared, the panic was audible and it was unbearable. Even when the Psycho Cut had vanished, a surge of wind came right afterward, which had caused Tyson to crash after escaping the attack in the air.

Glim was not looking back as Jane bravely was. She could see Martyr in the distance, running from where it fired its first attack. All around it, there was corpse after corpse spread all over the place. Most of which were merely halves, ripped and thrown far apart from the devastating force of the Psycho Cut. Even the trains were in half, all cut perfectly from the middle. Any pokémon that was still whole was either running or blown to the floor in the aftermath.

'Go, go!' shouted Jane, picking Glim up and forcing him to keep running.

The infernape, took only one step forward as she had an idea to block Martyr. Her veins glowed as she swung her right arm into the air, before fisting the floor, emitting a shock wave that caused the platform ahead of her to break furiously and rapidly point upward, creating walls between herself and the human monster. Jane pulled her fist out of the platform, before chasing after her friends, hearing the same roar of Martyr just behind the walls.

'Run!' screamed Martyr, savagely. 'You cannot stop us!'

Seconds later, a bright flash was reflected all around the underground, originating far behind Jane. Martyr summoned another Psycho Cut, that time diagonally, already cutting into the platform and ceiling. The angle Martyr put into the attack caused it to rotate clockwise, and much quicker than the previous attempt. It missed Jane easily, but at its speed and rotation, it was coming down on the fleeing glaceon and houndoom like a guillotine, who were unaware of its approach. The infernape picked up her speed, but in that panic and with Glim and Shadow being quadrupedal creatures, she was not catching up to save them that time. Luckily, out of nowhere, Karli came running from the other side and dived into the glaceon and houndoom as they were trying to slow down. The collision got Glim, Shadow and Karli to stop instantly, crashing onto the floor as they did, immediately followed by the Psycho Cut sweeping just over the downed houndoom's horns. The forceful gust then forced them to slide at least two metres from where they laid together.

The Psycho Cut continued, slowing in its rotation as it was not held back by the platform. It ended up colliding into the wall at the other end, where it disappeared completely from what Jane could see.

The infernape ran up to Glim, Shadow and Karli, trying to get up as quickly as they could.

'C'mon, get up!' shouted Jane, glancing back to see that Martyr was likely still behind the wall she had created.

Without a word, as soon as the glaceon, houndoom and kirlia got onto their feet, they ran. Along the way to the other side, they ran past Tyson who was waddling as quickly as he could.

'Faster Tyson!' called Shadow, as he passed.

'I'm trying!' replied Tyson, exhausted.

Suddenly, the chubby delibird was grabbed on his back by Jane, who picked him up and started carrying him in her arms.

The noise was unbearable, having gone from chaotic and deafening, to being much quieter all of a sudden, only groans, shrieks of pain and terror echoed all around the underground station. Glim did not want to look at any of the half carcasses that continued one after another, just thrown all across the platform. Amongst the sounds of dying, screams and ground above breaking, the sound of water was what disturbed him most. As he ran, it sounded like a calm river he would hear in a peaceful wood, except he knew it was blood.

It was only seconds later did the crew reach train car B244, catching up with McGregor, who had hands on the floor, looking down at what appeared to be a trash pile. He was frequently glancing down the platform at his friends who approached. McGregor looked sorrowful, as Glim knew who he was talking to.

'Ben!' cried Glim.

McGregor stood out of the way to let the little glaceon see Ben face to face. Like so many of the victims of the attacks. The garbodor was cut in half, but at an awkward angle, where he only lost his left arm and the majority of his bulky lower half. Amazingly, as his toxic blood leaked slowly, he was still alive. His eyes however were struggling to not squint as he twitched and fidgeted uncontrollably. Upon seeing Glim, he paused, like he did not recognise the pretty glaceon, but then he smiled.

'Ouch.' said Ben, weakly.

'Don't worry Ben,' said Glim, both desperate and serious. 'We'll… we'll get you out of here!'

Suddenly Karli bolted passed the glaceon and Jane caught up with Glim, looking down at the garbodor, still with Tyson in her arms. The delibird also looked down on Ben, finally reuniting with him.

Ben shook his head as best as he could.

'No, Glim-'

'Ben.' said Jane, genuinely worried.

As happy as Ben was to see Jane and Tyson since they got separated, he shook his head again, almost crying, yet still smiling.

'I can't… feel my body, sweet.' he said, only just moving his right arm, but unable to lift it. 'The kids! Are they alright?'

The garbodor tried his best to look around. Glim and Jane looked around, and the train car B244 was also cut in half and with its door wide open. However, it was eerily silent and there was no sign of Meg, but the bloody remains of children were present, on the floor near Ben and one dangling out of the train door. It made Glim's ears drop as he looked down at Ben again, unable to tell him. But that one look into the glaceon's frightened yet radiant eyes already told Ben of the bad news. The garbodor's casual smile faded.

'Glim…' muttered Ben, finally keeping still. 'Go on without me.'

The glaceon was tempted to run, considering that Martyr was very close by and after them. But staring down at the helpless garbodor, he just did not want to, his legs locked, as he stared into Ben's depressed dying eyes. Glim thought he would be crying by that point, but his lips were not trembling, nor were the tears overflowing. Perhaps he was just too scared to be crying there and then.

Jane adjusted Tyson to rest on her left arm and shoulder, so then she could place her other hand on Glim.

'Glim, c'mon. There's nothing we can do. Sorry Ben.'

Ben only shook his head and tried to smile one last time. The look in their eyes was all he wanted. To know that Jane was more sorrowful than sorry, and Glim was just upset.

Surprisingly for Glim, it only took for Jane to pull the glaceon slightly away from the dying garbodor before he could take his eyes off him.

Only metres away, Karli was on her knees next to corpse of a little dinosaur. It was Terri. Unlike most of the carcasses, the cranidos, who was still severed in half had her halves almost next to each other. When Glim ran by and stopped to look at Terri, she was already dead. Karli looked up at the glaceon, her eyes already leaking tears as she silently lowered Terri's head back on the platform.

The kirlia stood and ran after Jane and Tyson, while Shadow tailed Glim and McGregor tailed Karli. The stairs ahead of them were totally demolished, but survivors were heading through a door on the same level, metres behind the stairs.

Suddenly, far behind the fleeing friends, another horrific roar echoed, forcing Glim and Karli to glance back. Martyr fired another Psycho Cut, perfectly horizontal and close to the ground. Slicing up the trains yet again, along with the already mutilated corpses as it headed straight for the survivors.

'Get ready to jump on my mark!' yelled Jane. The infernape remained looking back as she ran in line with her friends, watching the fast approaching Psycho Cut. The delibird on her shoulder had to cover his eyes. 'Now!'

Amazingly, Jane, Glim, Karli and Shadow all jumped at the exact same time, leaping up as high as they damn well could and narrowly dodging the attack as it swept under them. The dusknoir meanwhile sunk into the ground again as the Psycho Cut shot over him. As expected, the force of Martyr's attack brought with a gust of wind, shooting them after the attack as it disappeared when it chopped into the wall. They all crashed across the floor until they hit against the same metal wall.

Once Glim and his friends got up, they swiftly rushed into the same door that other survivors were running into. It did not look like a tunnel to lead into another sector, Glim thought. When the little glaceon ran into the dark room, just behind Jane who finally let go of Tyson by throwing him off, he could hear a crowd of noise followed by someone yelling 'come on, hurry up!'

In the darkness, emergency lights revealed the room to be an emergency lift. Different to the one leading down to Rancour's basement. The room was one of those that was big, but was only a bridge in the middle, over a chasm. On the other end, the elevator appeared a little more modern, but much smaller and despite the sounds of panic, there were only nine survivors in it. All of them, especially the children looked so traumatised and confused.

'Get in there now!' said Jane, looking angrily at Glim.

While the glaceon, houndoom, kirlia and delibird obediently approached the elevator, the infernape and dusknoir both looked back at the doorway, expecting Martyr to suddenly walk through. They wanted to be the last ones on the elevator, so they took their stances.

'Are you not going to join them?' asked McGregor.

'Not until they're ready to go.' Jane replied.

Glim set his front paws into the fully metal elevator floor before he glanced back, while his boyfriend and Karli stepped in.

'Jane!' cried Glim. 'What're you doing?'

'Just get in, now!'

Suddenly, gasps were heard as a flash lit the room for a second, which was followed by terrified screams. Jane and McGregor immediately glanced back at the elevator to see that Martyr had just manifested between them and the trapped survivors in the small elevator. Just in front of the elevator floor, Tyson's body laid flat without his head, completely gone.

The human remnant still had the sword in its right hand as it swung it up, lighting its horrific soulless eyes. It was about to use Psycho Cut once more, when Jane grappled the arm of Martyr, trying to wrestle the unown scimitar off it, but somehow the human had the tremendous strength to resist the infernape. At the same time, McGregor leaped up and gave the strongest Fire Punch he had, only forcing Martyr forward slightly, while the dusknoir's fist met the bridge floor. Still arm in arm, Jane tried kicking Martyr, but after being forced to spin round by the dusknor, it was able to use its other hand to simply hit Jane away, sending her flying and crashing near the doorway they entered. Immediately, Martyr's sword glowed black as it swung at McGregor who moved back slightly, knowing the attack to be Night Slash.

From the elevator, Glim was the first to fire Signal Beam at Martyr, followed by Shadow using flamethrower, both streams of light appeared to combine into one, but were then blocked by Martyr just by holding up the sword. The beam of light appeared to be bouncing off, dividing into at least four different smaller beams.

Jane meanwhile got back on her feet and ran toward Martyr, covering herself in flames like she had nothing to lose.

While Martyr was distracted blocking Glim and Shadow's attacks, McGregor also tried to approach the human, who stood motionlessly, as the sword seemingly acted as an umbrella. The giant dusknoir paladin threw off the cloak that was clipped to his shoulder armour and then sunk into the ground, shooting right behind Martyr, on the other side of the bridge. But as soon as McGregor rose up, Martyr turned left, still with the sword blocking the other attack, and hit the dusknoir with a Shadow Ball to his face. McGregor was forced back into the wall over the chasm, while Martyr immediately intercepted Jane's Flare Blitz right afterward, using Sucker Punch like Rancour did, grabbing her by the neck and throwing her with all the momentum she built directly into the elevator. The elevator shook violently upon the infernape's impact, as her flames ceased, leaving her to slump unconsciously to the floor. Luckily no one was in the way when Jane crashed into to it, but her dangerous entrance caused Glim and Shadow to stop, allowing Martyr to reclaim its sword.

The human twirled the scimitar, making it glowed white again as it gave a death stare at the survivors.

'No!' screamed both Karli and McGregor.

The little kirlia threw out her arm, summoning a Reflect just outside the elevator, while McGregor dashed across the air, hitting Martyr like a furious boxer. Every hit prompted the dusknoir to Shadow Sneak around the human, who was barely budging and only grunting lightly, until it too used Shadow Sneak. First to get away from McGregor before attempting to swing the sword, using Psycho Cut, but as the huge wave of energy blasted forward, the dusknoir had already dodged it by simply leaning left as it only cut into the wall and causing a tremor. McGregor got a free Thunder Punch to Martyr's face, again only forcing it back slightly. Martyr hissed monstrously in frustration, turning black and sinking into the floor like the dusknoir before it. Suddenly the human swiftly bolted into McGregor who had no time to block the attack, which was followed by a Night Slash as it leaped out of the floor, cutting the dusknoir at the side of his face.

'No, dad!' screamed Karli, sinking into the ground to pass under her Reflect spell.

'Karli!' cried Glim, hitting the barrier.

The dusknoir, still standing was also getting frustrated, shadow sneaking passed Martyr who managed to predict the dusknoir and block the two punches that were coming for him on landing. Martyr then zoomed back and when it noticed McGregor not approaching that time, it fired a massive ball of shadows, but quickly, the dusknoir dodged by using Shadow Sneak once more and lunging up at the human, who had just enough time to raise its sword, block and force McGregor back. Suddenly Martyr was hit on the head by Karli who also lunged out from the ground.

'No!' yelled McGregor, trying so hard to regain his balance, watching his daughter in dread.

As Karli rebounded from her attack, which had her in the air, Martyr easily swished its sword, summoning a weaker Psycho Cut at the kirlia. That time, it got her directly at her torso, as the enormously bright attack, forced Karli to travel with the wave of energy, breaking right through her barrier and landing just between Glim and Shadow. Incredibly, she was completely in one piece, but the eviolite that was tied to her was flashing like a damaged overworking heart. The kirlia herself screamed in agony, grasping her arms tightly, both of which received massive cuts as did her dress and parts of her blue hair. It was the use of Karli's Reflect that had dispersed the power of the Psycho Cut so quickly, saving everyone within the elevator.

Anticipating McGregor to be burning in rage, Martyr easily dodged the next Shadow Sneak, as the dusknoir was getting predictable.

'We have to go!' said the flygon, operating the elevator, already hitting the activation button.

Further down the bridge, McGregor was still furiously trying to pummel the human, when suddenly it raised it sword, pointing directly at the dusknoir, whose whole fist and arm ended up forcing the bright scimitar between his knuckles and stabbing deep into his arm. The grunts of anger and frustration were quickly replaced by a loud manly scream, as Martyr's sword was left inserted into McGregor's hand and arm. Hearing the scream, Karli gasped, sitting up as the elevator's cage doors slammed shut. As it was merely very thick bars, the kirlia and her friends could still see the fight that was happening.

'Dad!' yelled Karli, struggling to get up, trying to resist the sheer pain of the Psycho Cut.

When McGregor's scream ended, he still tried to fight, even with a sword stuck in his stronger arm. He gave two swings of his left arm, when Martyr shadow sneaked into him again, appearing right behind him and recalling the sword to appear in its hand once more, which instantly disappeared from the dusknoir. The human jumped up, spinning round as it swung the blackened sword across McGregor's head. Martyr landed easily, but the dusknoir stuttered, wobbling around, trying to look back at the elevator, to look at Karli, before the head piece of McGregor simply drifted off, as the rest of him rolled forward, falling off the bridge and disappearing into the chasm.

The elevator finally began to lift, rising very quickly. Karli remained speechless, eyes fixed and unmoving. She tightly grabbed onto the bars of the doors, taking a moment to accept what just happened.

Glim and Shadow were in shock too, but more afraid for their lives as they sat in that small elevator, full of silent strangers, all of who were likely more terrified.

Before the fast ascending elevator entered the shaft into darkness, Martyr on the bridge looked up, just catching eye contact with Glim and Karli. It roared angrily, before running down the bridge in pursuit of them. The little glaceon was hoping the elevator would outrun it that time.

The emergency elevator continued to rise faster in the darkness, with very few emergency lights passing by in the vertical tunnel.

'Dad.' stuttered Karli, breaking into tears.

Feeling as though they had finally escaped Martyr, Glim turned to Karli and hugged her.

As if they had not had enough, something was coming as the shaft began to vibrate and light was beaming brighter and louder from below the elevator. Glim and Karli separated for a moment, utterly frozen as was everyone else. Suddenly, the whole elevator was jolted upward, throwing everyone inside up off their feet and forming and enormous dent in the hardened metal floor. It was Martyr using Psycho Cut again, except the elevator had built so much distance and had the whole ground around it to absorb the ferocious attack. The fierce tremor of the elevator terrified Glim, making him and so many of the survivors scream, thinking it was about to drop to their deaths.

The elevator quickly resumed its climb, with almost everyone either crying in terror or loss. The little glaceon and kirlia were holding each other, when suddenly a sword stabbed right through the hardened floor between them, quickly causing them to jump back in fright. Unsurprisingly, it was Martyr's sword, making a last ditch attempt to kill Glim and Karli. Helplessly, Glim cringed and shivered as he urinated where he sat. But while the elevator continued climbing, the unique sword between them slowly faded into light, before disappearing completely. At that moment they knew, they had finally escaped Martyr.

* * *

Note form author

'That everybody was the end of the first phase of The Sombre Snow, and honestly I am pretty satisfied into getting at least a third of the whole story done. Hard to think that I started this over a year ago now, but I'm afraid I will need a break for a while as I am in a rough stage in my life right as of now. In fact, I have been debating whether of not I should be continuing this project, since I don't seem to be getting a lot of followers, views or reviews for it, and this had taken a lot of my time for the past year. So I want to make the request, whether or not you think this worth continuing.

As a whole, the story was very involved, with multiple tragedies converging in some way to Glim's story and it was to have an epic climax if I was to finish the whole story. There would also be a sort of side story of 7 days, about what happened after Oswald's death and how Glim evolved into a glaceon, as I was saving that for creepy backstories at first, but thought maybe it was worth making into its own seven chapter story.

For now, I need my time off, so thank you to those who followed or took the time to read my fanfic and this note.'

-SapphicWish


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